Welcome to SquaredCircle’s ‘Meme Monday’!

Have you seen a great wrestling meme this week that just made you crack up? Did you watch a silly moment in a show and just need to craft a meme out of it? Well post ‘em below!

The highest voted meme shall win and be showcased in next week’s thread!

Last week we had another tie, so here's the cowinner!

AEW’s debut in France is official.

AEW Grand Slam: France will take place at the Adidas Arena in Paris on October 6, the company announced on Monday morning.

France has a strong professional wrestling market, supporting mainstream brands and its local independent companies alike. WWE has given the company an increased amount of attention in recent years, visiting Decines-Charpieu for Backlash in 2024, then returning last year for Clash in Paris at the gigantic Paris La Defense Arena.

Now, AEW is getting in on the action with a show at the 9,000-capacity Adidas Arena, which opened in 2020.

Grand Slam: France lands on a Tuesday, an unconventional day of the week for AEW to hold a card. It’s unclear at the moment what the show’s broadcast plans are.

AEW’s “Grand Slam” series has taken the product around the world. Past Grand Slam shows have taken place in Australia and Mexico.

Tickets for AEW’s debut in France will become available on Friday.

Avery Styles has crossed the line.

The son of AJ Styles, Avery Styles, was announced for the TNA Lockdown event. Avery appeared on the show and announced that he has officially signed with the promotion.

Frankie Kazarian came out to congratulate Avery on his signing and warned him that many wrestlers in the back will come after him for various reasons. Kazarian said that Avery can’t trust these wrestlers, but he can trust him.

AJ Styles worked for TNA from 2002 to 2014. During his tenure, he won multiple championships in TNA, such as the TNA World Championship, the X Division Championship, and more.

While All Elite Wrestling reportedly won't be carrying out releases, similar to WWE, the Tony Khan-led promotion will allow "a lot" of contracts to quietly expire at some point in the next 18 months, it has been revealed.

Bryan Alvarez reported on Wrestling Observer Live that a number of wrestlers in AEW want to leave the promotion but Tony Khan is simply paying them to sit at home.

"The fact of the matter is there's a lot of people that ain't doing nothing right now. In WWE, they have no issue cutting people, as we're well aware. Tony Khan doesn't like to play the bad guy, and so he doesn't like to cut people, so he just pays them to do nothing for months and months and months on end. There's all the tribal stuff, you know, if you hate WWE then they're evil for letting people go and Tony is great for honouring contracts. But at the same time, it’s like there’s definitely a lot of people in AEW that would like out and he won’t let them out. So they just sit at home wanting to wrestle. They get paid and they’re never used," Alvarez said.

"There’s pluses and minuses to both of these. But the fact is I have been given the impression that there's a lot of AEW contracts, he's not going to cut people, but they're just going to quietly expire. Probably like a lot of people. There's going to come a time, maybe six months, a year, 18 months down the road, where there's going to be a lot of people available."

It is unknown which talents will see their contracts quietly expire, but All Elite Wrestling do have a large roster, with one of the criticisms aimed at the promotion being having so many wrestlers under contract who are simply not used on a regular basis.

Jim Ross underwent successful brain surgery on Aug. 12, and he hopes to travel overseas by the end of the month.

The 74-year-old underwent a procedure to remove fluid from his brain, and the surgery was a success, according to his daughter, through Grilling JR co-host Conrad Thompson.

Last weekend, Ross posted an image of the aftermath of the surgery, and he took to social media Tuesday to provide an update on his condition and his plans.

Full day of rehab and physical therapy as I’m one step closer to going home. Appreciate all your well wishes. Goal is to work Wembley Stadium at the end of August.

Ross’ multiple health issues have kept him away from AEW broadcasts. His last appearance was at Double or Nothing, where he suffered a fall before arriving in New York for the pay-per-view.

Ross has been with AEW since the beginning in 2019 and has been part of the broadcast for every All In event, including the past two Wembley Stadium shows.

It at least has a happier ending than Big Boss Man and Paul Orndorff.

AEW stars will spill the tea.

All Elite Wrestling announced a new show titled “Spill The Tea,” which is set to premiere on Thursday, August 20.

The show will feature various AEW stars speaking with Rachel Bonnetta in a tea time setting. Things seem to get out of hand at various points, especially with the Bang Bang Gang around.

Mercedes Mone, Will Ospreay, Kyle Fletcher, Willow Nightingale, and more are featured in the trailer.

It was not stated where the platform will air.

Match & Meal with Renee Paquette and RJ City aired on the TBS YouTube channel.

Fightful will provide more details on the show when they are known.

Drake Younger is apologizing for his previous affiliations.

During the second night of GCW Homecoming, Younger cut a promo after losing to Otis Cogar, addressing his past controversial statements on COVID-19 and masking. He said that he knew some people were not receptive to his return the previous night, calling those feelings “incredibly valid.”

He said that five or six years ago he was contacted by Joey Janela and Brett Lauderdale, both of whom felt that he wasn’t the same person that they once knew. Younger said he chose to brush those concerns aside.

“I had tunnel vision, stuck in my own bubble, associating with topics and groups, loosely or directly, that I had no business or no interest in affiliating with,” he said. “And through that, I may have said some things and definitely did some things that I’m sure offended a large portion of our audience here in Game Changer Wrestling and independent wrestling. And for that, listen, look me in the eye. I want to tell you genuinely, for that, I’m sorry, and I hope you’ll forgive me.”

Younger’s controversial statements & affiliations

Younger, who was at one point a senior referee in NXT, appeared at a Seminole County board of county commissioners meeting back in 2021 while at the WWE Performance Center via Zoom. Wearing a shirt with the NXT logo, he called himself a “a leader committed to fighting the evil of human trafficking and child exploitation” and made claims that the county’s mask mandate at the time put children at risk of being trafficked.

The following month, Younger was among eight NXT on-air talent released from WWE. Reporting at the time indicated that he had “nuclear” heat for attending events without a mask and was known for criticizing wrestlers for getting vaccinations and flu shots. Fightful also reported of an incident where Yougner walked out following a Triple H speech where he said “(paraphrasing) that all people, races, genders, and religions were welcomed,” with Wuertz becoming upset once religion was mentioned.

POST Wrestling's article about it has more quotes from Younger's GCW promo, if anyone is interested. Hopefully he's turning over a new leaf, but some of his wording seems more like an 'I'm sorry if I offended you' apology.

Welcome to SquaredCircle’s ‘Meme Monday’!

Have you seen a great wrestling meme this week that just made you crack up? Did you watch a silly moment in a show and just need to craft a meme out of it? Well post ‘em below!

The highest voted meme shall win and be showcased in next week’s thread!

It looks like I forgot to use the previous week's winner for last week's thumbnail, so here that one is. I know it's about being overlooked, but I swear it was an accident. Sorry, LA Knight!

Jeff Jarrett continues the greatest title run in AEW history.

Jarrett has officially hit three years as Texas Chain Saw Massacre Death Match Champion. Jarrett defeated Jeff Hardy on the August 16, 2023 episode of AEW Dynamite to win the championship.

Jarrett is undefeated in title defenses.

The historic bout featured run ins from Matt Hardy, Private Party, Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal, Satnam Singh, Karen Jarrett, and even Leatherface.

Never again will we see a title reign on this level. Soak in blood. Soak in greatness. My world.

Congratulations to Jarrett on this milestone. Long may he reign in our world.

*Chainsaw is usually spelled as one word, but first movie has it as two. The rest all use 'chainsaw,' but the belt itself has a space, so the article is correct using 'chain saw.'

On Friday afternoon, Joey Janela posted a statement accusing PRODUCE owner Adam Abdalla (Orange Crush) of predatory behavior and more.

From Janela:

“There’s no plot, nor collusion with former acquaintances to get Adam Abdalla (Orange Crush) out of here.

“6 women, 6 WOMEN hit me up in the last 2 weeks with stories of Predatory behavior, sexual abuse etc

“From Booking Female Talent (He never talked to in his life) and in the same sentence asking them to get drinks with him.

“To talent accepting that offer and getting lured back to his apartment and propositioned group sex with him and girlfriend(s)

“To meeting & paying wrestling fans Money to have sex with them.

“These women do not want their names out there, because they don’t want something like this to follow their careers. Fawn was willing to speak & tell her story, to help stop a clear pattern.

“For me to use sexual assault, Misconduct, and abuse as a way to snake someone out of the business politically over a wrestling beef would be absolutely disgusting & If I wanted to get him “cANceLeD” I would’ve just posted the screenshot of him calling me the F slur last week but it was more than that.

“It was to hold someone accountable for vile behavior in a business where young people get in this to live their dreams but have to deal with advances and worse from someone with power, money and clout.

“FUCK YOU if you don’t believe me, it’s always get the bad people out of here.”

Abdalla issued the following response to the allegation:

“This has veered into criminal defamation.

“You never asked me a question about any of these alleged, damning incidents in all the time we were traveling together and at the same places for the last 7 years. All of a sudden, we have a couple of arguments (one about me being pissed about how you handled a matter of racial sensitivity which you denounced as irrelevant), and now you have a blackmail dossier.

“A real selfless hero.

“I’ll have something written up.

“youre also using hypothetical situation language to describe things I didn’t do and placing them next to things that arent an issue without that context in your tweet.

“Would be absolutely disgusting if”

“I have people texting me saying youre accusing me of assault.

“Is that what youre doing?”

On Thursday evening, Fawn Michaels addressed Abdalla, calling him “unsafe” and “predatory,” and accusing him sexual assault, harrasment, and grooming, while sharing texts between the two.

Abdella posted the following statement regarding Michaels’ video:

“Saw the video posted about me earlier, just now

“Have been getting calls and texts for a week about Joey and Brett trying to dig up anything they can possibly find about me.

“They’ve been plotting and colluding with a former friend / acquaintance to manufacture a story about my behavior – sending various accounts and false allegations to different people – and gleefully teasing it out if you look at Joey’s twitter.

“Here’s a text from Wednesday from Joey.

“Here’s a subsequent text this past Thursday between myself and Fawn, pumping me for information while I explained to her what was going on.

“I am going to leave these here.

“If anyone has questions for me besides veiled threats and out of context screenshots, I am happy to answer any and all questions about this or anything else over the last 7 years regarding myself or GCW on camera.

“I may be an asshole, but I don’t lie, and there’s a cold place in hell for Joey and Brett.

“I can’t speak to Fawn’s motivations but the below was our last conversation a few days ago.”

No police reports have been filed on the matter.

It's another rough episode to watch, although his son that's in the episode seems like a really good guy.

Jim Ross underwent a successful brain procedure Thursday.

The legendary pro wrestling broadcaster revealed last month on his podcast that he needed this procedure to remove fluid from his brain.

His “Grilling JR” co-host Conrad Thompson posted on social media that he heard from Ross’ daughter that the procedure was successful and that the 74-year-old is expected back home Friday.

Happy to report that our pal @JRsBBQ had a successful procedure this morning!

I heard from his lovely daughter this morning that everything went well and good ole JR is expected to be back home by Friday! 🤠

Please keep JR in your prayers as we hope for a speedy recovery!

Ross has been away from AEW broadcasting due to multiple health issues and was last seen at Double or Nothing. Ross remains active on his podcast with Thompson.

The article has an embedded video of him, no one is clicking on this to read about a potato themed Vader parody lol.

What time. It’s time. It’s Big Van Tater time.

Big Van Tater has gone viral on social media for his appearance at Southern Honor Wrestling in the RumbleJack battle royal.

Tater, paying tribute to Vader, enters with a microwave on his head before getting in the ring to fully cook his opponents.

Nyla Rose was immediately hooked, writing, “I just saw a man, a wrestler l, who came out dressed like Vader, but his name was Tater… He wore a microwave on his head. It was incredible. He’s my new favorite Wrestler. I need every bit of info on this gentleman POST HASTE”

Tater even took photos with fans.

Mick proving he's the best yet again.

Welcome to SquaredCircle’s ‘Meme Monday’!

Have you seen a great wrestling meme this week that just made you crack up? Did you watch a silly moment in a show and just need to craft a meme out of it? Well post ‘em below!

The highest voted meme shall win and be showcased in next week’s thread!

While it's not a meme, this video of Sting catching a bat behind his back was tied for most upvoted so I thought it would get a special mention here.

I somehow missed this one when it was uploaded. Sorry all!