Here’s what matters today in wrestling 👇
Image Credit: WWE
Monday night’s Raw episode ended with the unexpected return of Royce Keys, backed up by the even less expected Bronco Nima & Lucien Price. Nima & Price have teamed up as OTM (Out The Mud) on NXT for the past few years. Nima had branched out to AAA recently and joined Los Perros del Mal, which led to some friction between Nima & Price on NXT television. That friction was short-lived and Nima & Price quickly got back on the same page. Saturday’s AAA show saw Nima get kicked out of Los Perros, but Monday’s Raw saw him with Price & Royce Keys beating up the Usos, LA Knight & Solo Sikoa, forming a new faction that seems to be targeting anybody & everybody involved in the Bloodline saga. I liked it because it was completely unexpected and Keys getting some backup to go after all the people that did him wrong makes some sense.
Another story that came out over the weekend made a little more sense after OTM’s main roster debut. Angel Garza got mad at fans & critics that didn’t love the angle ending Saturday’s AAA show where Nima got kicked out of Perros del Mal after losing a short match to Penta and let everybody know that they would all suck as writers. I don’t follow Angel Garza (or anyone else) much on social media, but from what I understand he does that sort of thing a lot. After Monday we can figure out the context behind Angel’s tirade, but I’m still unclear as to what Bronco’s Perros excursion did to help the story of OTM joining up with Royce Keys. The best I got is that Bronco learned through the process that he was better off with his old friends and didn’t need Los Perros. It might highlight some of the difficulty that the AAA writers face in that they’re fourth on the totem pole and Raw or SmackDown could take their talent at any time. That will lead to plans being changed and angles taking place to make absences make sense. I’ve criticized wrestling TV writers plenty over the years, but I’ve never said they have an easy job. They have issues come up that most fans will never even think about.
WRESTLING HEADLINES 👊
•Johnny Gargano WWE Exit Rumors Debunked
Image Credit: WWE
I gather that there’s a lot of fans out there that don’t love Gargano’s current gimmick on SmackDown where he lies on a crate while Sami Zayn complains to him and Candice LeRae shakes her head. They saw Tommaso Ciampa make the move to AEW and start having solid wrestling matches again and would like Johnny Wrestling to do the same thing. So when some rando on Twitter reported that Gargano changed his bio on the site and left WWE out of it, people got excited that Gargano was leaving to join Ciampa or just going somewhere else. Turns out that didn’t actually happen, and Gargano posted a video of when he returned to Raw four years ago.
I don’t know whether Johnny’s current storyline will lead anywhere. I suspect that even if it does most people won’t be fully satisfied with it. One thing I do know is that everyone has different things they prioritize in life & in their careers. Some pro wrestlers want to do the most they can on television and get as much of the spotlight as they can. Others are happy to stay in the shadows and get their satisfaction through other means. Gargano appeared on LFG this season to help some of those wrestlers put their matches together, and I remember even back in his days before WWE he was training younger wrestlers that were just starting out. Combine that sort of desire with his father’s health issues that he recently posted about online, and I’m not surprised that Johnny hasn’t jumped at the chance to go to a new work environment. Maybe he will someday, but for now he might as well plank and see where it takes him.
Image Credit: TNA
This might be the least surprising news item to get posted on a wrestling news site in 2026. The son of the wrestler that was the face of TNA for the first half of its existence got signed by TNA? That’s even less surprising than WWE signing the latest member of the Anoa’i family. I have yet to see Avery wrestle, but I have certainly heard a lot about him over the past few months, and even without AJ’s tenure in TNA it would make sense for that company to sign him and see if they can capitalize on some of that buzz. We can question a lot of moves TNA has made lately, but this one makes too much sense. I wonder when they’ll do a storyline where he’s putting up chairs in the arena before the show. Is Thursday too soon?
MORE MUST-READ LINKS FROM 411MANIA
→Hall's WWE Raw Review 8.24.26
→Ask 411 Wrestling: What Were the Original Plans for the Outsiders in WCW?
→411's WWE LFG Season Three Report: Episode Nineteen
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