Aussies Abroad: Lover’s quarrel and overseas success

Welcome to this week’s installment of ‘Aussies Abroad’, where we highlight all the latest news from Australian wrestlers making waves overseas.

Let’s start this week’s coverage with an update on the lover’s quarrel between Adelaide-born Rhea Ripley, current women’s champion Liv Morgan, and ‘dirty’ Dominick Mysterio. Last week’s RAW saw Rhea Ripley address the crowd for the first time since her epic return following an injury to her shoulder. The eradicator first addressed the whereabouts of “her” belt, claiming that Morgan was walking around with something that belonged to her, and that it wasn’t dirty Dom. Right as Ripley called on the women’s champion to come out and face her, Mysterio made a surprise entrance, holding a black rose and an apologetic expression. The move was notably a nod to the 90’s storyline following the great Chyna and Eddie Guerrero, who the fans have often noted similarities between. Morgan then also made an appearance via the screen and further agitated Rhea by claiming she had quite the intimate relationship with Mysterio during her absence. Ripley then announced (more like growled) the match that fans who have been following both women since their tag team partnership days back in 2022 have been waiting for: a fight between the two for the Women’s World Championship. What followed was a daunting stare down the barrel of the camera from Ripley, who taunted Morgan with her own rendition of a “watch me”. Mysterio followed Ripley down the ramp with the rose, but received little to no attention from his ‘Mamacita’. The night continued to be an unlucky one for Mysterio, meeting a harsh throw of roses to the face by Ripley who refused to receive any form of apology. The tension came to a breaking point when Jey Uso went to “make a move” on Ripley after hearing she might be a “single” woman. This led to a match between Uso and Mysterio, which saw an appearance by Liv Morgan and an epic loss for Mysterio, further disappointing his ‘Mami’. With SummerSlam set for August 4, we can’t wait to see how WWE will showcase the historic feud between these two superstars.

Also on the Raw brand, South Australian Bronson Reed was able to pick up a match with Celtic Warrior Sheamus last week which unfortunately ended in disaster for the ‘Aus-Zilla’. Reed had several highlights in the match including catching Sheamus in an epic sit-out powerbomb followed by a missed moonsalt from the top rope. The roll-out from Sheamus saw a hard impact on Reed causing him to be down for the three count. The bad luck continued with Pete Dunne striking both men in the ring. Leaving Sheamus defenseless in the ring, Reed was able to make his way back up to a top rope and land a neat tsunami.

On the blue brand, this week’s SmackDown saw boxer Terence Crawford assisting Cody Rhodes in fending off an attack from Austin Theory and the Aussie Grayson Waller. Rhodes was opening up about Randy Orton’s recent assault during a promo when Theory and Waller joined the crowd, blaming Rhodes for the recent Bloodline attacks. Rhodes was quickly outnumbered by the pair but was handed a chair by the boxing star to fight off the tag team.

In NXT, Aussie Duke Hudson faced one of the biggest challenges of his career, going into a head-to-head challenge with North American champion Oba Femi. The two had a strong start to the match with both men grappling with getting the upper hand. Hudson got the momentum going with a mean DDT and a hit to the jaw sending Femi over the top rope. After some back and forth, Femi hit two backbreakers to the already injured back of Hudson, who was miraculously able to kick out in time. Hudson was also able to kick out of a massive chokeslam from Femi, which garnered a massive pop from both the crowd and his Chase University team, followed by a huge crowbar which Femi was then able to kick out of. Femi was eventually able to hold Hudson down for the three counts after a hard battering on the announcement table.

Back in AEW, fans have been reeling over a dramatic betrayal against the ‘timeless’ Toni Storm earlier this month from Mariah May. The Aussie was brutally beaten by her beloved protege as the two head for a championship match at All In. Last week’s Dynamite saw May return to the stage in full ‘timeless’ gear, revealing that she purposefully strung Storm along before stripping her of her spotlight.

“Let’s be honest. You all saw it coming. Everybody saw it coming except Toni Storm,” May said. “A woman so desperate for the spotlight she didn’t realize she was giving it all away. The question shouldn’t be why. The question should be Mariah, what took you so long? Honestly, I didn’t think it would last this long either. But it was so easy, and I was having so much fun stringing her along.”
“But don’t worry Toni, I still love you. In fact, Toni I have never loved you more than when you were on your knees bleeding, screaming, crying my name. That was your greatest performance, and my greatest performance will be at All In. Because now All Elite Wrestling is All About Mariah.”

Speaking of matters of the heart, Australia’s Steph de Lander has seen romance bloom at TNA Slammiversary, with her beloved PCO accepting her marriage proposal. PCO saw a win against AJ Francis for both the TNA Digital Media title and the Canadian International Heavyweight Championship. Lander then came out after the match to propose, which was met with an enthusiastic yes.

In other news, Aussie Kyle Fletcher has been named as one of 10 announced for the International Gran Prix hosted by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. We can’t wait to see him represent Australia in the highly anticipated tournament- till next week!

Imogen Evans

News Writer + Aussies Abroad. Based in Adelaide and winner of the 2023 CPA Young Journo of the year, has been a news and arts journalist for a number of years working across radio and print, but has decided to take her wrestling addiction to PWDU. You can find her at any local wrestling night across the state with a beer in-hand and a front-row ticket to the action.