Various: Grizzled Young Veterans Making TNA Debut at Hard To Kill 2024, ESPN 2023 Wrestling Awards, Indies

Dec 27, 2023

Grizzled Young Veterans Making TNA Debut at TNA Hard To Kill 2024

Impact/TNA Wrestling recently announced that The Grizzled Young Veterans, James Drake & Zack Gibson, will be making their official debut for the company at their Hard To Kill 2024 event on January 13, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

BREAKING: @JamesDrakePro and @ZackGibsonGYV will make their TNA debut at #HardToKill on January 13 LIVE on PPV from the Palms in Las Vegas!

Get tickets HERE: https://t.co/xnu2ERswem pic.twitter.com/VNz8XurY2i
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) December 26, 2023

ESPN Announces Full List of Winners for Their 2023 Wrestling Awards

ESPN announced their full list of winners for this year’s ESPN Wrestling Awards.

WWE took the most awards at six, followed by AEW with 3 awards and New Japan Pro Wrestling with 1 award.

Full list of ESPN 2023 Wrestling Awards winners:

Female Wrestler of the Year – Rhea Ripley
Male Wrestler of the Year – Cody Rhodes
Tag Team of the Year – FTR
Debut of the Year – CM Punk (WWE Survivor Series WarGames 2023)
Breakout Wrestler of the Year – LA Knight
Promo Artist of the Year – MJF
Match of the Year – TIE: IWGP United States Hevyweight Championship match – Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 & IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship match – Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega (c) at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2
Best PPV Event of the Year – WWE WrestleMania 39
Best Storyline of the Year – The Bloodline

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

During a recent interview with New Japan Pro Wrestling, Will Ospreay issued an official challenge to Kazuchika Okada for a match at NJPW’s Battle In The Valley 2024 event on January 13, 2024 in San Jose, California. Ospreay stated “I’m confident going into this match that I’ll be walking away with this championship. I’m that confident in doing it, like, I’m prepared to make a challenge right here for San Jose. I know it’s on the poster that Okada is on that poster. And we have so much unfinished business. Yeah, granted, I was able to get that win in the G1 and I could finally prove to everybody that I can beat Okada. But I’m happy to put this challenge out right here, right now in front of you all that I want to face Okada in San Jose.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)

AJ Francis, former Top Dolla in WWE, announced that he recently signed a deal with Cheez-Its to be their representative for the MVP title at the 2024 Citrus Bowl game on January 1, 2024 in Orlando, Florida.

All Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced that Takao Omori’s contract with the company is set to expire at the end of this month and he will be leaving the company. It was also announced that Omori’s final match with the company will be taking place at their December 31st event in Shibuya, Japan.

Westside Xtreme Wrestling recently announced that Lio Rush will be making his official debut for the company at their 16 Carat Gold 2024 event on March 8-10, 2024 in Oberhausen, Germany. It was also announced that Rush will be competing in next year’s 16 Carat Gold tournament, which currently features Rush, Luke Jacobs, 1 Called Manders, Masato Tanaka, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. , Joseph Fenech Jr., Gringo Loco, Michael Oku, and Peter Tihanyi for its official field.

WrestleCon recently announced that Ashley Sebera, former Dana Brooke in WWE, will be making an appearance for the company at their WrestleCon 2024 on April 4-7, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Major League Wrestling announced that Matt Riddle will be making an appearance for the company at their Intimidation Games 2024 event on February 29, 2024 in New York City, New York.

MLW also recently announced that they will be holding a fan meet-and-greet event prior to the start of their Kings of Colosseum 2024 event on January 6, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

MLW also recently announced one new match for the card of their Kings of Colosseum 2024 event on January 6, 2024 in Philadelphia:

MLW World Tag Team Championship – World Titan Federation (“Filthy” Tom Lawlor & Josh Bishop) vs. The Second Gear Crew (1 Called Manders & Matthew Justice) (c)

Stardom recently announced one new match for the card of their New Year Stars 2024 event on January 3, 2024 in Yokohama, Japan: