JPWN Beta: ROH Final Battle Preview. Otis on WWE PC. Jake Crist on Impact Wrestling Status. WrestleMania 4 & 5 Venue to Implode.

About this Episode

    <p>I’m Matt Carlins and this is JUST Pro Wrestling News for Friday, December 18, 2020.</p>

This update is sponsored by IndyWrestling.us.

Results from Thursday’s NXT UK are straight ahead, but first…

Ring Of Honor’s biggest event of the year - and its first pay-per-view since last December. Final Battle is just hours away. But there’s uncertainty surrounding part of the card. Last week, ROH announced EC3, Flamita and Bandido are OUT of the show due to COVID-19 testing protocols. ROH will announce changes to tonight’s card during the free First Hour of Final Battle, beginning at 8PM. EC3 was set to battle Jay Briscoe. Flamita and Bandido were going to defend their 6-man tag titles.

As for the matches that WILL happen. Rush defends the ROH World Title against Brody King. Jonathan Gresham will wrestle TWICE. He’ll defend the Pure Title against Flip Gordon...and he and Jay Lethal will put their tag titles on the line against Mark Briscoe & PCO. Also, Danhausen can secure an ROH contract IF he can beat Brian Johnson.

WWE updating the card for Sunday’s TLC show. The Fiend vs Randy Orton will now be a Firefly Inferno Match! Also, a rematch from last Friday’s Smackdown is set for TLC with Sasha Banks defending her Women’s Title against Carmella.

A reminder that tonight’s SmackDown airs on FS1. The Street Profits are set to defend their tag titles against Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode. Also, Bianca Belair faces Bayley.

Some interesting names on tonight’s New Japan Strong. KENTA is defending his Right To Challenge contract for the IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Championship...against the aforementioned Brody King. Also, Jeff Cobb faces Rust Taylor - who recently signed with WWE and made his NXT in-ring debut just days ago as Tyler Rust.

Some big announcements on Thursday’s NXT UK

A-Kid will challenge WALTER for the UK Championship in the new year. There’s no exact date yet.

There’s a #1 contender’s match for Kay Lee Ray’s UK women’s title coming. Jinny and Piper Niven will meet on the first NXT UK of the new year - on January 7th.

Also on Thursday’s show, Gallus retained their tag titles against The Hunt.. Trent Seven announced he’ll be taking a break from the ring.. And NXT UK unveiled a hot prospect - announcing Ben Carter will soon make his debu. The 22-year-old worked matches for AEW and Impact over the last six months...before signing with WWE.

Some injury news. NXT’s Cameron Grimes is out of action for the rest of the year. PW Insider reports Grimes underwent surgery last week.

Otis is disputing reports that Vince McMahon recently ordered he and other “big guys” back to the Performance Center for additional training.

(Otis On PC Work)

That’s Otis speaking with Fox Sports’ Ryan Satin.

Impact Wrestling announced the Super X Cup tournament will be part of its Genesis show on January 9th.

Jake Crist is now a free agent. He parted ways with Impact a couple weeks before his contract was due to expire.

Impact fired Jake’s brother Dave and Joey Ryan after the explosion of #SpeakingOut accusations flooded the pro wrestling industry over the summer.

Jake was pulled from TV and he said he was essentially “ghosted” by Impact for 6 months until things finally thawed recently.

(Jake Crist Impact Departure)

Jake Crist on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast.

Jake added he has no hard feelings toward Impact, and loved his time there.

Finally, the site of WrestleManias 4 and 5 will soon meet its end. But first, Atlantic City is holding an online auction for the chance to push the button to implode the former Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. Money raised will go to the local Boys & Girls Club.

That’s JUST Pro Wrestling News for Friday, December 18th. Our next update comes your way tomorrow morning, so be sure to subscribe to this feed. We also thank you in advance for leaving a glowing rating or review..

I’m Matt Carlins. Thank YOU for listening.