Daily Update: NXT Level Up, Nikki Bella, Chris Jericho

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WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE

WWE

  • It was officially announced last night that NXT Level Up will be premiering this Friday, replacing 205 Live. WWE.com wrote about the show: “Friday nights are about to reach a whole new level with the introduction of NXT Level Up airing immediately after SmackDown on Peacock in the United States and WWE Network [everywhere] else! Catch some of the brightest young talent as they look to make a name for themselves and begin their climb to the top of NXT 2.0 every Friday night at 10/9 C.”
  • Adam Pearce tweeted a picture of the original 205 Live roster and paid tribute to the brand: “If you know, you know. To every soul that set foot between the purple ropes, put pen to purple paper, and brought the purple brand to life: Thank you. My gratitude always. #205Life”
  • In an interview with TV Insider, Nikki Bella was asked if we’ve seen the last of The Bella Twins in a WWE ring: “We really hope there is an opportunity to go after the tag titles. Being in the ring with Bianca Belair, I would love to come back and work with Bianca. I would love to come back and work with Rhea [Ripley]. I’m a huge fangirl of hers. Just seeing her presence in the ring-up close, I would die to do a story with her. It felt so cool to be in the ring again with Ronda [Rousey]. She is just awesome and has an incredible presence. We all had a lot of fun in the locker room after. I really missed it, but I’m in mom mode and things are different now. I was sore for a few days. I can’t lie. The show made me think about how we can come back and do more of a story. Unfortunately, where we are at in our lives Brie and I can never be back full-time. We hope there is something soon or in the future that we can come back and do something. Just getting the taste in the ring made us want more.”
  • Lita, Big E & Kofi Kingston, and Reggie appeared on this morning’s episode of WWE’s The Bump.
  • Lita also spoke to the New York Post about her Raw Women’s Championship match against Becky Lynch at Elimination Chamber this Saturday. Lita discussed her personal history with Lynch: “When I met her, I saw the star that she could become and so I really tried to encourage her and fight for her and put that doubt to bed as much as possible. I was just always there rooting for her. When I saw her kind of flip that switch and become the biggest superstar male or female that the company had seen in quite some time, I was just her number one cheerleader and felt so happy that she was able to fight through that doubt and the doubters to become the superstar that she is.”
  • Ariel Helwani interviewed AJ Styles for BT Sport.
  • 2K Sports released a trailer highlighting MyGM mode for WWE 2K22.
  • On the latest episode of his podcast, Ric Flair said he was upset that no one in WWE reached out to him after he announced his split with Wendy Barlow.
  • WWE released an extra clip from this Friday’s Broken Skull Sessions episode. Ron Simmons is appearing as Steve Austin’s guest.
  • WWE’s YouTube channel uploaded John Cena vs. Seth Rollins in a steel cage match from the December 15, 2014 episode of Raw, Batista & Undertaker vs. Rated RKO from the February 16, 2007 episode of SmackDown, and a 15-man Elimination Chamber qualifying battle royal from the February 6, 2009 episode of SmackDown.

Other Wrestling

  • Bryan Danielson tweeted ahead of his match against Lee Moriarty on tonight’s Dynamite: “Teacher. Student. The former is always the latter. @TheLeeMoriarty has impressed me with his dedication to mastering wrestling fundamentals. But on tonight’s #AEWDynamite he will learn an equally important lesson on the nature of violence. Maybe he can teach me something as well.”
  • AEW announced its updated roster rankings.
  • Brody King is the guest on the latest edition of Talk is Jericho. During the episode, Chris Jericho said he was supposed to face Hiroshi Tanahashi at NJPW and ROH’s G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden in 2019, but both Tony Khan and Vince McMahon asked him not to do the show: “I was actually going to go against Tanahashi. And then both Tony Khan and Vince McMahon asked me not to do it. That’s a whole other story, we could do a whole podcast just on that. But I didn’t do the show.”
  • AJ Mendez (formerly known as AJ Lee) spoke with Freddie Prinze Jr. on today’s episode of his Wrestling With Freddie podcast.
  • LuFisto received a letter from the National Assembly of Quebec congratulating her on her induction into GCW’s Indie Hall of Fame.
  • Chris Dickinson will return to GCW at the promotion’s show in Los Angeles on Friday, February 25.
  • The former Enzo Amore & Big Cass will reunite for one night only as they face Matt & Jeff Hardy at Northeast Wrestling’s show in Danbury, Connecticut on Sunday, March 27.
  • The Hardys cut a promo on Matt Cardona & Brian Myers ahead of their match for Big Time Wrestling in Albany, New York on Sunday, March 13.
  • Serena Deeb vs. Liiza Hall and Jay Lethal vs. Baron Black have been added to Terminus’ show in Atlanta on Thursday, February 24.
  • Denise Salcedo has an interview with David Finlay.