Various News: Notes on Tonight’s Impact Wrestling on AXS TV, ROH TV Preview, This Is Us References WWF

– PWInsider reports that Jake Something vs. Chris Bey will open tonight’s Impact Wrestling on AXS TV broadcast. Also, former ROH owner Cary Silkin will appear on tonight’s show and at least one future episode of Impact TV.

PWInsider also noted that while D’Lo Brown has been absent from Impact Wrestling TV since being “attacked,” he’s still been backstage all the TV tapings. However, he’s remaining off TV for the Honor No More storyline.

Lastly, PWInsider reported that tonight’s show will reveal the main No Surrender matchups.

– ROH Wrestling released the following TV preview for this week’s TV episode. This week’s show features Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham for the “original” ROH World Title at Final Battle 2021:

ROH TV PREVIEW: RELIVE THE CLASSIC MATCH BETWEEN JONATHAN GRESHAM AND JAY LETHAL FOR THE ORIGINAL ROH WORLD TITLE BELT AT FINAL BATTLE: END OF AN ERA

This weekend’s special episode of Ring of Honor Wrestling features the classic match between Jonathan Gresham and Jay Lethal for the original ROH World Title belt from the Final Battle: End of an Era pay-per-view last month.

Also on this episode is the ROH Women’s World Title Match from Final Battle between defending champion Rok-C and Willow.

The originally scheduled main event for Final Battle was an ROH World Title match between defending champion Bandido and Gresham. However, Bandido tested positive for COVID-19 two days before the show.

Lethal, a two-time former ROH World Champion who had signed with All Elite Wrestling the month prior, returned to ROH for one night to face Gresham, his longtime friend. The winner of the match would be awarded the original ROH World Championship belt.

It was fitting that Lethal, who for years was known as “The Franchise of ROH,” would wrestle in the main event of the last Final Battle of this era of ROH.

For Gresham, a victory over Lethal on the historic show would further validate his case for being the best pro wrestler in the world.

The ROH Women’s World Title Match at Final Battle featured two of the most popular stars in the division.

Rok-C took a 6-0 record in singles competition in ROH into the match against Willow, who had defeated Mandy Leon in a No. 1 contender’s match to earn the title shot.

– This week’s episode of This Is Us on NBC was set in the 1980s and featured references to classic WWF on a TV for Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, and King Kong Bundy (h/t PWInsider).