PWI Weekly for October 17, 2022
All Japan Pro Wrestling, MJF and William Regal, Survivor Series, and More
On The Simpsons, an angry Krusty The Clown once chided his assistant, Sideshow Mel, by telling him that he wasn’t fit to hold his predecessor’s slide-whistle. If Bill Apter were around the PWI offices today, he might tell me something similar. Because, dear reader, it falls on me—Contributing Writer Jason McVeigh—to try and fill the ample shoes of PWI Editor-In-Chief Kevin McElvaney for this edition of The PWI Weekly.
Kevin is on a much deserved vacation but will thankfully return next week. In the meantime, read on to see what’s on our minds this week at the PWI offices. And please direct all angry tweets to @jbladeko.
PROMOTION OF THE WEEK
While we normally use this space to highlight a wrestler or tag team, we are changing things up a bit this week. October 21 will mark the official 50th anniversary of the founding of All Japan Pro Wrestling. Though the promotion has seen its share of ups and downs during that time, the fact that the creation of the legendary Giant Baba is still around and celebrating this milestone birthday is cause for celebration. Here’s to another 50 years on the “King’s Road.”
SPOTLIGHT ON …
Whether he will admit it or not, October 5, 2022 must have been a seminal day for the scoundrel known as MJF. On that evening’s edition of AEW Dynamite, MJF came face to face in the ring with William Regal—a legendary scoundrel himself. No doubt about it: Maxwell Jacob Friedman owes more than a tip of the cap to Regal and his Machiavellian ways. We may never get to see an in-ring clash between this dastardly duo; but we will hopefully see some blistering verbal jousts. Though, judging by the manner in which Regal brandished those signature brass knux, any words that young Maxwell might have for the Blackpool native ought to be chosen carefully.
A QUICK WORD ABOUT …
When WWE Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque announced in September that this year’s Survivor Series would see a shift away from the recent Raw-vs.-Smackdown branding and a return to a more storyline driven presentation, it was cause for celebration here in the PWI offices. At times, the Raw-vs.-Smackdown format seemed a tad forced—particularly with regular drafts and talent defections making “brand loyalty” a moot point. Here is hoping the new (old) direction gives us some more grudge matches to sink our collective teeth into. Hey Trips! Can we also see some of the those classic Survivor Series team names make a comeback? We are quite partial to “The Visionaries,” ourselves.
FROM THE VAULT
In 2022, the legendary Rock ’n’ Roll Express is winding down a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-worthy career that’s spanned more than four decades. In July 1986, the red-hot young duo was featured on the cover of Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Already two-time NWA World tag team champs by that point, it’s unlikely the bright-eyed Ricky Morton or Robert Gibson would’ve predicted the six additional title reigns they would record over the years—with the most recent occurring in 2019, following the retooling of Billy Corgan’s National Wrestling Alliance.