Below are some top news stories of the day, involving SmackDown and Tony Khan.
• On last night’s SmackDown, Kevin Owens said his mystery tag team partner had some travel issues, so he brought out a local wrestler named Ricky to team up with him against Austin Theory & Grayson Waller.
However, Owens was informed that his partner has arrived. Owens then hit Ricky with a Stunner and out came Randy Orton to team up with Owens. This was Orton’s first appearance after his loss to Gunther.
Ricky got mad aura #Smackdown pic.twitter.com/Dl8KuAn9MS
— V. ✨🐝 (@HaangEmHiigh) September 14, 2024
This gotta be a heel turn by KO because ain’t no way he turned on Ricky like that 😭😭 JUSTICE FOR RICKY #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/rCUmBvRQDj
— Public Enemies Podcast (@TheEnemiesPE3) September 14, 2024
Orton & Owens went on to defeat A-Town Down Under.
Ricky is an independent wrestler named Ricky Gibson of the tag team ‘Midnight Heat’. Midnight Heat (Ricky Gibson & Eddie Pearl) will take on AEW tag team FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) at Prestige Roseland 9 on September 29th.
— Ricky Gibson (@rockinrickyg) September 14, 2024
WATCH: Trish Stratus Pulls Her Pants Down:
• WWE released Matt Riddle in 2023 because he failed multiple drug tests due to cocaine use (confirmed by him) and his other controversies outside of the ring (including an incident at the airport).
During an interview with Sports Illustrated, Riddle was asked about the possibility of joining All Elite Wrestling one day.
Here’s what the former United States Champion said:
“With AEW, I think AEW is a fantastic product. I know a lot of the people that work there; I like the company; I like the way they work; I like the people that work there; I think with me, and it’s one of the things I’ve noticed, I’ve been relieved after getting fired from WWE.
I felt that because I was on TV, and I’m such a provocative character at times, everything was magnified so much because I was on TV. The stress of working on TV two to three days a week was a lot. I like pressure; I like stress too, but it was a lot. The best answer would be to go to AEW, get more money, and work a decent schedule. I didn’t want to work on TV again; I didn’t want the attention for a while; I wanted to step away; I just wanted to do indies.
I know MLW works with New Japan. New Japan works a lot with AEW. Maybe you’ll see me on an AEW channel or broadcast sooner rather than later. Maybe you won’t.
I talked to Tony (Khan). I don’t know if he likes me. He seemed happy. I wrestled Zack Sabre Jr. in Chicago. He seemed cool about it. I don’t know. When you meet me, I’m very sarcastic. But when I met him, I was like, ‘Oh, you like that match?’ But I said it a different way, and he looked at me all confused. And I was like, ‘Never mind, dude’. I just walked away. So that was my experience with that.”
