Adam Cole

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe. 

WWE Provides Injury Updates on Cole, Velveteen Dream

WWE announced Wednesday that both Adam Cole and Velveteen Dream suffered injuries at NXT TakeOver 31 on Sunday.

Cole, who was attacked by Ridge Holland at the end of the show after Finn Balor beat Kyle O'Reilly to retain the NXT Championship, is dealing with broken ribs and contusions.

Meanwhile, Dream suffered a fractured wrist in his submission loss to Kushida, although he is medically cleared if he is able to tolerate the pain.

Both injuries are likely storyline in nature rather than legitimate, as the Cole injuries were meant to get Holland over as a threat and the Dream injury was a result of Kushida working over his arm and wrist throughout the match.

It remains to be seen where the Cole angle is going, but it could lead to Undisputed Era going up against Holland and then potentially breaking up depending on how it plays out.

Cole has always been the leader of Undisputed Era, but based on how O'Reilly performed against Balor, perhaps the door could be open for Undisputed Era to ditch Cole with O'Reilly rising up to take his spot as the leader.

As for Dream, his loss at TakeOver was seemingly a means of getting Kushida over as a vicious competitor, and there is little doubt that the goal was accomplished in that regard.

That win was arguably the biggest of Kushida's NXT career thus far, and it could be a sign that he is on the verge of a massive push moving forward.

Angle Talks Why He Turned Down UFC

WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle is one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, but it is no secret that he is also a legitimate tough guy.

Angle won amateur wrestling gold at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta with a broken neck, and it wasn't long after that he made the move to WWE. In an interview with Dave Scherer of PWInsider, Angle divulged that he nearly joined UFC in 1997, but decided against it because of the poor compensation he would have received:

"I got a deal from UFC in '97 and it was so bad, and the crazy thing is it was the most they ever paid anyone, or offered anyone, it was a 10-fight deal for $150,000 so it was 15 grand a fight. There was no way in hell I was going to do that. But that was back then before Dana White and they were trying to keep it afloat so I went the WWE route."

Angle added that he considered joining UFC again in 2003, but after breaking his neck for a second time, he lost too much strength in his arms.

The final time Angle thought about joining UFC was in 2006, but he honored his commitment to TNA instead:

"I did revisit it in 2006, and Dana White flew me out there and we got a deal structured and he was great, he was an awesome individual, he offered me great money, and I just signed with TNA and I had to make a decision. Dana said, 'You can't do both,' because I was going to try and do both, I was going to TNA part-time and UFC, and I just signed a deal with Dixie [Carter] and I didn't want to let her down, so I stuck with TNA but I'm glad I did it because I wouldn't have done very well. I was only lying to myself if I thought I was going to be able to compete at that level with the way my neck was."

The stars never aligned for Angle since UFC was in its relative infancy when he was in his prime and he wasn't at his peak physically later on when he could have made big money in UFC.

Given his ability and charisma, Angle could have become one of the biggest stars and draws in the history of UFC had he made the leap, but he did well for himself in pro wrestling and established himself as a true legend in the business.

Erik of Viking Raiders Undergoes Surgery

Erik of the Viking Raiders announced Tuesday that he underwent surgery to have some hardware removed from his arm:

While he didn't provide a timetable for his return, Erik said he is "excited to come back at full strength."

The hardware was a result of a previous surgery, as Erik was involved in a major motorcycle crash in 2014 that nearly took his life.

The timing of his latest surgery likely had something to do with the status of his tag team partner, Ivar. Several weeks ago on Raw, Ivar suffered an injury while diving to the outside of the ring during a tag team match.

WWE announced that Ivar suffered a cervical injury, and he later reportedly underwent neck surgery.

With Ivar on the shelf, Erik was unlikely to receive much television time or be put in a significant angle, so it made sense for him to have the procedure at this time.

Now that both Erik and Ivar have gone under the knife, it could be quite some time before The Viking Raiders are seen again on WWE programming, but there is no question that the former NXT and Raw Tag Team champions will receive a big reaction when the time comes for them to return.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe. 

Reigns Talks Possibly Facing Cole

As the reigning Universal champion and arguably WWE's biggest star, there is no shortage of potential dream matches available to Roman Reigns.

When it comes to possibly facing a current NXT Superstar in the future, however, there is one person who stands out above the rest for The Big Dog.

During a Zoom call with Mania Club (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Joseph Ciccolini), Reigns named former NXT champion Adam Cole as his ideal opponent from NXT: "I'd like to maybe tangle with Adam Cole, I think that would be neat. I think we would get some really good reaction."

Cole is arguably the most successful Superstar in NXT history, and he is coming off an NXT title reign that lasted a record 396 days. Cole is also a former North American and NXT Tag Team champion.

While some detractors might point to the size disparity between the somewhat diminutive Cole and the former football player in Reigns, Cole has shown throughout his career in NXT and prior that he can face bigger athletes and make it look good.

Most recently, Cole dropped the NXT Championship to Keith Lee in a match that was competitive and believable despite the fact that Lee outweighs Cole by a good 100 lbs.

Cole also got a taste of the main roster last year when he beat Daniel Bryan cleanly on SmackDown and had a quality match against Seth Rollins on Raw.

Since Cole has been a top star essentially everywhere he has gone during his career, he is an ideal candidate to face a Superstar of Reigns' caliber once he gets called up to the main roster for good.

Additional Retribution Names Potentially Revealed

WWE may have provided a clue regarding what Retribution members Mia Yim and Mercedes Martinez will be called moving forward.

According to WrestlingInc.com's Marc Middleton, WWE filed trademarks for five names this week: T-Bar, Slapjack, Mace, Retaliation and Reckoning.

On Monday's episode of Raw, the T-Bar, Slapjack and Mace names were officially revealed. T-Bar is played by Dominik Dijakovic, Slapjack by Shane Thorne and Mace by Dio Maddin.

Yim and Martinez were with the group also, but neither of them gave their names. Based on the trademark information, it looks as though they may be called Retaliation and Reckoning, although that hasn't been confirmed.

The names and the Retribution gimmick haven't been well-received by fans so far, but there is no question that there is plenty of talent within the group.

Dijakovic had a great rivalry with Lee in NXT, Thorne is a top tag team wrestler and Maddin is a former NFL player. Meanwhile, Yim and Martinez were two of the top performers the NXT women's division had to offer.

The success of Retribution will largely hinge on booking and how they are presented, but even if things aren't great on that front, perhaps the performers themselves will be able to make it work.

Peers Praising Royce's Work

Peyton Royce reportedly has a great deal of support in WWE both from higher-ups such as Vince McMahon and her colleagues in the locker room.

According to Louis Dangoor of WrestleTalk, Royce's peers are impressed by the fact that she has been working hard to improve her ring work. One anonymous WWE Superstar said Royce has a "tremendous attitude" as well.

Royce has been part of The IIconics with Billie Kay throughout her WWE career, but that changed a few weeks ago when Royce and Kay lost to The Riott Squad, meaning Royce and Kay had to break up.

Peyton beat Kay in a match the following week and then lost to Raw Women's champion Asuka by disqualification on this week's Raw.

Given her potential as well as her blend of in-ring and talking ability, it is widely believed that Royce is poised to be a big star in the WWE women's division.

With her co-workers reportedly behind her and supporting any type of push she gets, there may now be an even greater chance of that happening for the Australian star.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT were once again on different nights this week, but for the second consecutive week, Wednesday's Dynamite beat Tuesday's NXT in viewership.

According to F4WOnline's Bryan Alvarez, Wednesday night's Dynamite on TNT averaged 1.016 million viewers, while Tuesday night's NXT on USA Network garnered 838,000 viewers, per Showbuzz Daily.

Both Dynamite and NXT have moved around in recent weeks because of the NBA and NHL playoffs, respectively. NXT had higher viewership two weeks in a row when in its normal Wednesday time slot and Dynamite wasn't, while Dynamite had higher viewership last Wednesday with NXT on Tuesday.

NXT was the first show to air again this week, and it was newsworthy, to say the least. The episode kicked off with a match between Finn Balor and Adam Cole for the vacant NXT Championship after they tied each other last week with two falls apiece in a Fatal 4-Way 60-Minute Iron Man match, which also included Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano.

Balor beat Cole in a highly entertaining match, making him only the third Superstar in WWE history to hold the NXT Championship twice.

The NXT main event was a steel cage match between Rhea Ripley and Mercedes Martinez. Two of the toughest women in the business went toe to toe for the better part of 15 minutes and put on what was perhaps one of the best women's matches of 2020.

Ripley prevailed in the end after hitting Martinez with Riptide off the ropes and through a table.

The biggest moment on Wednesday's Dynamite was the debut of Miro, who previously competed as Rusev in WWE. AEW advertised the revealing of Kip Sabian's mystery best man for his wedding with Penelope Ford, and Miro turned out to be the big reveal.

The main event of Dynamite was a TNT Championship match pitting Brodie Lee against Dustin Rhodes after the team of Dustin, Matt Cardona, Scorpio Sky and QT Marshall beat Dark Order at All Out.

Lee beat Rhodes to retain the TNT title, and he added insult to injury by assaulting his opponent after the match was over.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe. 

Ric Flair Updates WWE Status

The last time Ric Flair was seen on WWE television, Randy Orton punted the Hall-of-Famer in the head on the Aug. 10 episode of Raw. 

Even though that was a storyline reason to write Flair off television for the time being, the Nature Boy told Raj Giri on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast he would welcome a return if WWE called:

"Well, God only knows. I want to come back, but to be honest with you, I haven't been told I have in so many words, I think they worry about my health issue. Even though, I have fallen down. I went skiing. I've done all of that just to show them that I could do all this. I think the bigger issue with my heart was I had that blood clot. I'm off blood thinners. How I'm still alive, we'll have to figure this out."

There are certainly practical reasons for WWE not to risk having Flair travel to Orlando, Florida for Raw, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. He underwent surgery last year to address heart issues. There's only so much the 71-year-old should be doing in the ring at this point in his life. 

Flair is a performer who will always give everything he has to the business whenever he's asked. WWE has taken advantage of that over the years, but there doesn't seem to be any pressing story to bring him back at the moment. 

The earliest possible scenario that would make sense to have Flair return is at Clash of Champions when Orton challenges Drew McIntyre for the WWE championship. 

Flair could do something to cost Orton the match, or at least cause a distraction, as retribution for what happened on Raw last month. 

Finn Balor Talks NXT

Finn Balor's return to NXT last October has been a resounding success for him and the brand. He's been a focal point of the show, most recently earning a one-on-one title match against Adam Cole next week after Tuesday's four-way 60-minute Iron Man match ended with the two superstars tied with two falls each. 

In an interview with Phillip Martinez of Newsweek, Balor explained why he prefers working NXT to being on the main roster and touring with Raw or SmackDown:

"You're having live event matches all around the country against one person, so you're very familiar with their movements and what they do on the ring.

"I watched all these NXT superstars [today] and I admire them and have the utmost respect for all of them, but going in there with someone, there's obviously a lot of expectations on the match. If it's Finn Bálor returning to NXT versus Matt Riddle and we have absolutely never met, we're locking up for the first time on a Takeover with a lot of expectations, a lot of pressure, a lot of eyes on us, it's that kind of pressure that makes you feel alive."

One common criticism of WWE's main roster is the reliance on rematches. Once a feud begins, it's more than likely going to go through three pay-per-views with both superstars trading wins in the first two matches and culminating with a decisive third bout. 

An advantage that NXT has is only running one pay-per-view every three to four months. There's still a chance for rematches to take place on television, but more often than not everything builds to the big show and the winner moves on to someone else. 

Balor vs. Cole in a singles match isn't technically a rematch from this week, but it seems unlikely anyone will complain about seeing two of the best wrestlers in the world squaring off for the biggest prize in NXT. 

Orton Drops a Teaser Video

Just over three weeks away from his WWE championship match at Clash of Champions, Orton used his Twitter account to tease something happening. 

The Viper posted a video of a snake with the caption, "It's FINALLY happening!! Any guesses?":

The most common response in the comments is Orton will be getting a new theme song. The Apex Predator has used his current theme, "Voices" by Rev Theory, since 2008.

Even though WWE often loves to meddle with its characters, Orton has remained mostly consistent throughout his career. The few times he's been a babyface didn't really require him to change much, since he essentially ran through opponents. 

It's clear Orton is much better served as a heel, which makes his current theme song a strong fit because there's a darkness to the lyrics that perfectly encapsulates his character. 

If WWE is changing Orton's entrance music, there better be a good reason to do so. It's a key aspect of who he is as a superstar and helps generate easy heat when he comes to the ring. 

Sixty minutes were not enough to determine NXT's new champion Tuesday as Finn Balor and Adam Cole finished with two falls apiece in their four-wrestler Iron Man match.

Balor and Cole will have a sudden-death match to lead off next week's NXT episode. Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, who had one pin apiece Tuesday, will not take part.

Balor landed the first fall 25 minutes into the match:

He was exceptional, landing this front flip over the ropes on Gargano and Cole:

Bodies were strewn inside and out of the ring, including all four at one point:

After the midpoint of the match, Gargano scored his only fall, tying Balor at one:

Cole then got the pin on Gargano to pull himself into a three-man tie:

Then Ciampa got in on the action, and all four competitors found themselves with one fall apiece:

All wrestlers were still tied at one with under one minute left, but it appeared Finn Balor would get the title after landing the Coup de Grace on Ciampa, who had just hit Gargano with the Air Raid Crash.

However, an early celebration was all for naught, as Cole came in with a running knee and got the fall on Balor as time expired.

After some initial controversy as to whether Cole got the fall in time (he did), NXT general manager William Regal announced that Cole and Balor would have a sudden-death match.

Balor and Cole will now battle for the vacated NXT title, which Karrion Kross most recently held.

Kross defeated Keith Lee for the belt Aug. 23 but suffered a separated shoulder and was forced to give it up.