About this Episode

    <p>Listen and subscribe at www.JustProWrestlingNews.com</p>

I’m Matt Carlins and this is JUST Pro Wrestling News for Friday, May 21, 2021.

This update is brought to you by IndyWrestling.us.

(STINGER: New Japan)

New Japan needs a new top champion.

It announced Thursday that Will Ospreay has vacated the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship...due to a neck injury he suffered during his title defense against Shingo Takagi earlier this month.

New Japan said there’s no timetable for Ospreay’s return. It’s promising further announcements on the future of its top title.

New Japan is holding its first live event in nearly two weeks on Saturday in Nagoya. This will NOT be broadcast on New Japan World. The next live show from Japan on World is coming up on Monday.

A No Disqualification Match is the main event on tonight’s New Japan Strong. It’s Fred Rosser vs. Hikuleo.

Plus, Brody King and Karl Fredericks vs. Team Filthy’s JR Kratos & Danny Limelight...and Alex Coghlin vs. Bateman.

(STINGER: WWE)

It wasn’t that long ago when he was widely considered one of the brightest young stars in pro wrestling. Now, Velveteen Dream’s time in WWE is over. The former NXT North American Champion was reportedly released on Thursday. He hadn’t wrestled a match since last December.

The Intercontinental Championship is on the line on tonight’s SmackDown. Apollo Crews is set to defend in a 4-Way...against Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Big E.

Tyler Bate is the NEW Heritage Cup Champion. He dethroned A-Kid on Thursday’s NXT UK. Bate reversed a rollup into one of his own...to score the one and only fall of the 6th round of the match.

Also on the show...Amele pinned Xia Brookside...and Rampage Brown pinned Wolfgang.

(STINGER: Impact)

We have NEW Impact Tag Team Champions - but it’s probably not who you think.

FinJuice beat Ace Austin and Madman Fulton to retain the titles on last night’s Impact. But after the match, Violent By Design made a surprise appearance.

VBD’s Rhino won a “Call Your Shot” Battle Royal last October...that granted him a future title shot of his choosing...and he chose to cash in that opportunity last night.

Rhino and Joe Doering quickly beat FinJuice and they are the new Impact Tag Team Champions.

The Forbidden Door between Impact Wrestling and New Japan is swinging open again.

Last night, Impact announced that former IWGP Heavyweight Champ Satoshi Kojima will be on next week’s show.

Impact Champ Kenny Omega thought he and the Good Brothers had his next title challenger Moose cornered for an attack...but Sami Callihan ran to the ring to back up Moose.

Rachael Ellering pinned Jordynne Grace with a rollup...after Grace made a surprising challenge for the match between the former Knockouts Tag Champs.

Tenille Dashwood used a rollup to pin one half of the current Knockouts Tag Champs Kiera Hogan. Dashwood has her sights set on those titles...with Taylor Wilde as her partner. The only problem is that Wilde is not really on board with the plan.

Rohit Raju pinned Jake Something...thanks to a big assist from Shera. After the match, Something battered Shera with a steel chair.

W. Morrissey attacked Rich Swann during a backstage interview.

(STINGER: ROH)

The Ring Of Honor Tag Team Titles will be defended on this weekend’s ROH TV.

It’s Matt Taven and Mike Bennett challenging HOT SAUCE Tracy Williams and Rhett Titus.

Also on the show, a Pure Rules Match between Rocky Romero and Fred Yehi.

Major League Wrestling kicked off its Open Draft Thursday night...and revealed a new signee, former Ring Of Honor World Champion Davey Richards, will be joining its roster.

Richards recently announced his return to pro wrestling. He stepped away from the business in 2017. MLW says Richards will debut at their live event in Philadelphia on July 10th.

Other news coming out of last night. We learned the former Dario Cueto will be known as Cesar Duran in MLW...and former Lucha Underground Champion Mil Muertes is now being called “King Muertes”.

That’s JUST Pro Wrestling News for Friday, May 21. Don’t forget to rate, review, subscribe and hit that notification bell so you don’t miss our next update.

I’m Matt Carlins. Thank YOU for listening.

~~~Full run down at www.justprowrestlingnews.com~~ ~
•
•
•
•
•