Clash of Champions tonight
When Vince McMahon bought WCW in 2001, many wondered what would happen with the talents, show names, and equipment, among other things.
While talent was signed after they agreed to buyouts from WCW, old WCW show names have mostly been left out.
Until tonight.
The WWE presents Clash of Champions on the WWE Network, the first Raw-only special event since the brand split in late July.
Clash of Champions was a staple in the NWA and WCW that started on March 27, 1988, on TBA and ironically, it aired opposite of WrestleMania IV.
While the backstory there is for a future column, the Clash of Champions was always a primetime version, or the equivalent in my eyes, of the WWE蘑菇视频 Saturday Night蘑菇视频 Main Event.
Anyway, back to 2016.
The show tonight has seven matches scheduled, not including the Nia Jax vs. Alicia Fox match on the Kickoff Show.
The main event is scheduled to see Kevin Owens defend the Universal title against Seth Rollins and Charlotte will defend the Raw Women蘑菇视频 title in a triple threat match between Sasha Banks and Bayley.
Other title matches include Rusev defending the United States title against Roman Reigns, The New Day is defending the Raw tag titles against Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, and TJ Perkins defending the new Cruiserweight title against Brian Kendrick.
Sami Zayn faces Chris Jericho and Cesaro and Sheamus square off in the seventh and deciding match of their best-of-7 series.
The card is strong on paper and we will see if it delivers.
New Day蘑菇视频 title reign
After I listed facts and details about The Miz蘑菇视频 Intercontinental title reign in last week蘑菇视频 column, it got me to thinking about The New Day and their historic tag title reign
However, things are tricky in that sense.
How, you ask?
Well, technically the WWE has three different tag title reigns it honors: the World tag title from June 3, 1971, through August 10, 2010; the Raw tag title which debuted on October 20, 2002, that runs until today; and the Smackdown tag title that debuted at Backlash earlier this month.
The New Day is the longest running Raw tag champions in history with a reign of 398 days, with the next closest being Paul London and Brian Kendrick almost 10 years ago.
Demolition holds the all-time WWE tag title record when they held the World tag title for 478 days in 1988 and 1989.
For The New Day to pass Demolition for the all-time record for one title reign, they would have to hold the titles until December 15, which is three days prior to Raw蘑菇视频 Roadblock show in Pittsburgh.
However, I sense a tag title change tonight.
Local wrestler蘑菇视频 experience
Speaking of Raw shows in Pittsburgh, that蘑菇视频 where our story starts about James Ellsworth.
Who, you ask?
Ellsworth, previously known as Jimmy Dream, has wrestled for years in the Uniontown area and has made two recent appearances on WWE TV.
He wrestled Braun Strohman on the July 25 episode of Raw and appeared on the September 13 edition of Smackdown.
The Baltimore native trained under Axl Rotten and debuted in 2002.
So how did Ellsworth feel about performing on Raw in Pittsburgh?
鈥淚t was awesome,鈥� he said before talking about the reaction he has received. 鈥淭he fans have been amazing and it is because of them that I got back onto WWE television.鈥�
Ellsworth found out about the WWE appearances two days prior to each show, and despite having wrestled on a show in front of two fans once, he says that he has lived his dream.
鈥淐hase your dreams everyone,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 living proof that any man with two hands has a fighting chance.鈥�
I sense a T-shirt slogan there!
WWE attempted to buy TNA?
There have been a lot of rumblings going around lately as to TNA being sold, with the most consistent name being heard is Billy Corrigan of the Smashing Pumpkins.
But apparently, the WWE has had a bid on the table to buy the company solely for its video library.
Rhodes signs with TNA
Cody Rhodes has debuted with TNA.
Mt. Rushmore continues next week
We may be done with the Mt. Rushmore of wrestlers by decade, but there are many more mountains to climb!
Check back next week for the next chapter.