However, AEW also recently let go not one but three stars and these releases made many wonder what the former AEW Champion thinks about this decision from the company.
Jericho talked about the recent firings on his Saturday Night Special stream. Y2J said that he hates to see anyone lose their job but he also gave credit to Tony Khan for keeping many people from Europe on their roster;
“I mean, I give Tony Khan credit for continuing to keep as many people on the roster from Europe as he did. There’s a lot of people from Europe that he’s still paying, and unfortunately, Bea and Sadie were let go.”
Chris Jericho continued to explain how it’s hard for the company to keep paying the wrestlers who they can’t use for shows and he hoped that both Bea Priestley and Sadie Gibbs will be back in AEW when things go back to normal:
“You’re paying someone for 6 months who goes from making $100 a year, and you’re paying them $100 and you can’t even use them if you wanted to. I love them both. They’re both great people and hopefully, they will be back in AEW soon.”
For those who don’t know, AEW quietly released three stars from their roster last week and the names included Jimmy Havoc, Bea Priestley and Sadie Gibbs.
Out of the three, Jimmy Havoc was released after his name came up in the #SpeakingOut movement earlier this year while both Priestley and Gibbs were primarily released because they couldn’t travel to US for AEW shows.
There have been some rumours recently about AJ Styles being unhappy with his position in WWE and it appears that these talks have reached the ears of the Phenomenal One as well.
The current Intercontinental Champion talked about a number of things during his Twitch Stream and also addressed the speculation of him not being happy in the company.
AJ mentioned that he did have issues with the former Raw Executive Director Paul Heyman but he said that what’s done is done and Styles suggested that he is not unhappy anymore;
“I’m unhappy being Intercontinental Champion, I’m unhappy what? What do I have to be unhappy about?
We all understood what happened [with Paul Heyman]. The problem with everything that happened is that the lie happened, the blatant lie. I don’t really want to harp on anyone anymore. What’s done is done.”
For those who don’t know, AJ Styles had asked Paul Heyman if Gallows and Anderson were on the list of people WWE intended to release during the coronavirus budget cuts and the ECW founder had replied negatively.
However, the Good Brothers ended up being released by the company later on which angered the former World Champion and reports suggest that Styles chose to move to SmackDown due to his frustrations with Heyman.
WWE revived Raw Talk earlier this year and now latest reports suggest that the company is planning to bring back its SmackDown counterpart, Talking Smack very soon as well.
According to reports from PWinsider, WWE officials are considering to bring back the SmackDown aftershow and it could return to WWE programming as soon as later this month.
This is not the first time we are hearing about the possible revival of Talking Smack as there had been talks of the show being brought back in June when the company launched the free tier of the WWE Network.
While WWE only brought back the Raw aftershow at the time, the report reveals that the talks of bringing back Talking Smack go as far back as January this year and the officials have not pulled the trigger on it yet.
Both Talking Smack and Raw Talk were originally introduced when WWE brought back the Brand Extension in 2016 and separated the rosters for Raw and SmackDown.
Out of the two shows, the SmackDown aftershow made more headlines due to its unscripted nature. It allowed the stars to show more personality and the Network exclusive had many iconic moments.
The SmackDown episode after SummerSlam will be an ideal time to bring back the show and it would be interesting to see if the company makes the announcement for the same anytime soon.
WWE has made the strange decision to hold this year’s Payback PPV on August 30, just a week after their second-biggest PPV of the year in SummerSlam, leaving fans wondering about the reason behind this call.
Dave Meltzer talked about this schedule recently and the wrestling journalist mentioned that it’s “just an experiment to see how it works.”
Meltzer speculates that the officials have an idea for a major angle coming out of the SummerSlam PPV which will require an immediate follow up with the Payback event.
One of the top rumors about the major angle is that RETRIBUTION will invade the PPV and interfere with a big match, leading to the stars uniting against the faction and getting their payback at the PPV of the same name.
The idea stems from an angle on this week’s episode of Raw which saw the WWE Champion Drew McIntyre trying to unite the locker room against the group in a backstage segment.
There is also a belief that holding two special events in a row is just a way to saturate the PPV market and potentially hurt the buys for AEW’s All Out PPV which will take place just 6 days after Payback on September 5.
Though whether or not any of the speculations turn out to be true will be revealed this Sunday and it will be interesting to see if RETRIBUTION gets involved with the show in any way.
WWE has released a number of long term employees in recent months due to the coronavirus pandemic and it appears Chris Jericho is not a fan of one such recent firing.
The former AEW Champion talked about a number of things on the latest episode of his Saturday Night Special stream including things like his ongoing feud with Orange Cassidy and more.
Talking about the recent WWE release of long time referee Mike Chioda, Jericho blasted the company asking them what Chioda is supposed to do now.
“I mean, come on, seriously? 35 years the dude has been at your company and you’re going to fire him? Besides the fact that the dude is a great guy and such a talented performer, and can run the whole backstage, but after 35 years, what’s he supposed to do? Go get a job at freaking 7 Eleven?
Like, shame on you WWE.” said Chris Jericho “They did it to Mark Eaton, a famous ringside guy that they still haven’t been able to replace him yet. When I was looking for time cues, Mark was always the guy.”
Mike Chioda showed up at last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite to officiate a couple of matches which included the TNT title match and the match between Y2J and Orange Cassidy.
During the episode, Chris Jericho also revealed that it was him who gave the idea of bringing the WWE veteran for the show and he and Cody convinced Tony Khan that it was the right move.
WWE has a rich history of former UFC stars coming to the company and the list of people who successfully made the transition from the MMA world to the world of wrestling include people like Ken Shamrock and Ronda Rousey.
Now latest reports are suggesting that WWE officials are interested in bringing in another former UFC Champion to the promotion, though this time not in a wrestling capacity.
Dave Meltzer mentioned on Sunday Night’s Main Event podcast that WWE has interest in signing UFC veteran Daniel Cormier to the commentary team after he announced his retirement.
Though WWE officials are not the only ones interested in bringing Cormier into the company and Fox officials are also said to be interested in signing the UFC star for the SmackDown commentary team.
This is not the first time we are hearing about the company’s interest in Daniel Cormier. Similar reports surfaced online in 2019 and Daniel himself had confirmed that he even had talks with the promotion.
Although this doesn’t necessarily mean that he will make the transition as UFC also wants to keep the former champion around and Cormier has done some commentary work for the MMA league in the past.
The 41-year-old star announced his retirement from the MMA World on Saturday night after losing his fight against the UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic.
Despite all the talks, there is no word yet on what Daniel Cormier himself is planning for his future and it would be interesting to see where the retired star ends up.
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff made a surprise appearance at AEW Dynamite recently. However, the news of his cameo had leaked online beforehand and Chris Jericho is blaming an ‘NXT-reject’ for it.
The former AEW World Champion talked about the incident on his Saturday Night Special stream. Jericho was explaining how the amount of people who are on social media is very small compared to the people who watch their show and he gave the example of Bischoff’s appearance:
“For example, when we had the debate and Eric Bischoff was announced on Reddit and we know the spy is, by the way. Oh, we know. He’ll never f—ing be back in AEW. NXT reject was a spy, so print that.”
Chris continued by explaining how they had two choices after the news leaked. They chose not to announce the appearance and it still surprised a lot of people:
“I was like, listen, we can announce this or we can just not announce it and don’t worry about it and see, you know, the people that know will know and maybe they’ll watch if they weren’t going to,
The people that don’t know, will still be surprised. That’s exactly what happened.” said Chris Jericho “People were super surprised that Bischoff was there and it worked out great.”
Eric Bischoff appeared as a special guest moderator for the debate between Y2J and Orange Cassidy during the August 5th episode of Dynamite and it was Bischoff’s first appearance on TNT since 2000 when WCW folded.
One of the main criticisms faced by John Cena is ending the momentum of many top acts during his long run as the face of WWE and Rusev is one of the top examples of the same.
The Cenation Leader ended the Bulgarian Brute’s undefeated streak during their match at WrestleMania 31 and many believe that the former NXT star was never able to recover from this loss in WWE.
However, during a recent appearance on The Ryback Show, Rusev talked about his relationship with Cena and the former WWE star said that he had a great relationship with John:
“[We had a] great relationship. I never had a bad experience with John. John taught me about cars because I love cars, and he taught me about cars. And I got a Mazarati because he recommended that it was a fantastic car.
I’ve been in his house for dinner.” revealed Rusev, “I think it was a christening for me – we started working a program and he invited me into his house to kind of see who I am, and we hung out. It was fun, man.”
The former US Champion also credited the 16-time world champion for teaching him everything about timing the crowd and Rusev went on to say that John is an amazing dude who will never shove you on the side:
“Every time I hung out with John, it was fun. He’s an amazing dude and he works out really hard, and he was always open for advice. He’ll never shove you on the side. He will never do any of that.”
Later in the interview, Rusev also claimed that the two still keep in touch and revealed that John Cena had texted him recently to say that he looked great.
There have been renewed talks of Adam Cole possibly being moved to the main roster after he dropped the NXT Championship to Keith Lee last month.
During a recent interview with TV Insider, the former champion talked about a number of things including his ongoing feud with Pat McAfee, being compared to Shawn Michaels and more.
When asked about a potential move to Raw or SmackDown, Cole said that he is in no rush to leave NXT as he feels that the Black and Yellow brand is blossoming into something special:
“I feel like NXT is really blossoming into something special, selfishly, I don’t want to miss out on that. I’m really enjoying my time here and feel there is more for me to do. I feel like there is more for the Undisputed Era to do. As a group, we have been a dominant force in NXT.
I’m in no rush to leave NXT.” said Adam Cole “At the same time, do I think the Undisputed Era would be effective on RAW and SmackDown? Absolutely.”
Latest backstage reports have revealed that WWE officials are planning another draft soon and they have shortlisted two dates in October for the same.
Now after Cole’s title loss, the big question is if the company could actually be planning to move him to the main roster and if the Undisputed Era leader could be moved during the upcoming drafts.
Matt Cardona finally made his AEW debut after months of rumors during the July 29 episode of AEW Dynamite and he has since made his in ring debut for the company as well.
However, reports that have come out since then have revealed that the former WWE star has not signed a long term contract with the company and his current deal is only for five appearances.
Cardona talked about his status with AEW during his recent appearance on the Not About Wrestling show and when asked about his future plans, the former IC Champion said that he didn’t get into AEW just to get a new t-shirt:
“Yeah, so I only have a couple of dates signed, but I didn’t go there just to get a new t-shirt, you know? I’m there for the long haul. That’s the goal. That’s the plan. To show the world what I can do. To win some championships, have some fun and it’s a great environment there.”
Cardona continued by saying that the past couple of weeks at AEW were great and even though some people didn’t like his performance, he can’t wait to do more work with the company.
Cardona formerly known as Zack Ryder was one of the stars who were released by WWE as part of their budget cuts in April earlier this year, ending his 15-year long stint with the promotion.
It’s a well-known fact that AJ Styles is close friends with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson and the Phenomenal One had stated before that he spent all his time backstage in WWE with the Good Brothers.
The former TNA star returned for his Twitch stream recently where he answered questions from fans, and talked about things like who should be the next Intercontinental Champion and more.
Since Gallows and Anderson are no longer with the company, a fan asked who is Styles’ closest friend on the WWE roster now and AJ took the name of Xavier Woods from The New Day and Samoa Joe:
“I think that out of everyone – he’s on the injured list right now, but still, probably the guy I’ve known the longest is Xavier Woods/Austin Creed, I’m trying to think who else would be in there. Like, Samoa Joe would be my closest on RAW.”
Styles also praised both Dolph Ziggler and Jeff Hardy for their selling saying that Ziggler is one of the best in WWE right now and Jeff Hardy is right up there with the Show Off.
Last week’s episode of SmackDown saw the WWE TV debut of Joseph Parks aka Abyss. The company then announced that AJ Styles will defend his IC against Hardy at this week’s episode of the show.
Adam Cole has spent most of his time in NXT as a heel but fans are getting the chance to see the other side of his character in his ongoing feud with Pat McAfee.
The former NXT Champion recently had an interview with New York Post where he talked about things like the stigma in wrestling surrounding smaller wrestlers and more.
In light of his ongoing feud with McAfee, Cole was asked if he would like a shot at a proper babyface run in NXT and the Undisputed Era leader replied positively:
“Yeah, I think I would. I think I would love the chance to be in that babyface role. By no means would that babyface role mean the Adam Cole that you see now would change very much,
But I do think it would be a cool challenge and something interesting for me to do to kind of be put in that role.” said Adam Cole “I think it would be really fun.”
Adam Cole also recalled his early career and revealed that he used to play a babyface character when he first debuted. At the time, he felt uncomfortable in the role but now he has a much better grasp over his character.
Apart from this, the former ROH star discussed things like the reason behind Undisputed Era’s longevity, the arrival of new stars in the NXT roster and more.
There have been a lot of talks about the future plans for Big E recently and during a new interview, the former champion revealed what the officials have told him about his future.
The former NXT Champion spoke to Talksport recently and admitted that the officials have told him about plans for a singles push for him. However, given the unpredictable landscape in WWE, the New Day member is not believing it completely until it happens.
Big E also responded to people suggesting that he should adopt a more serious persona for his singles run, saying that it wouldn’t make any sense for him to become serious all of a sudden:
“For me to suddenly come out and be serious makes no sense to me. If anything, there needs to be a reason to get me there and also, if I’m constantly serious – like I was when I first debuted – there is no room to get more angry.
There’s no room for me to become irate or incensed or to have this shift in temperament.” said Big E, “If there is a reason given, if there’s an antagonist, if there is something that drives me there, then hey, I might be all for losing my smile or whatever it is! But why would I lose what makes me unique or special?”
Apart from this, the former Intercontinental Champion discussed Daniel Bryan’s praise for him. E said that it means a lot coming from a guy like Bryan who has built his name outside of WWE.
Big E has been given the opportunity of a singles run for the first time since the formation of the New Day due to the injuries of his teammates Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston.
There is no exact word on what the company is planning for him but it’s believed that the former champion is in line for a big push as a singles competitor.
AJ Styles’ WWE debut at Royal Rumble 2016 is considered to be one of the most impressive debuts in the history of the company; however, Vince McMahon didn’t feel the same at first.
The Phenomenal One recently returned to his weekly Twitch stream where he talked about things like Gallows and Anderson signing with Impact, how he doesn’t get the time to watch other promotions and more.
During the talk, Styles revealed that Mr McMahon thought that the reaction he got during his Royal Rumble debut was a fluke and the boss had to be convinced to let him be on Raw the next night:
“The reaction that I got at the Royal Rumble 2016 was awesome, it was amazing, but Vince didn’t really believe that – [he thought] that it was a fluke, basically.” said AJ, “That’s what he thought it was. I wasn’t even going to be on RAW the next day, but they convinced him otherwise.”
AJ also recalled the time Vince McMahon sat him down and explained what he was expecting from the former TNA star. He had one chance to show the boss what he wanted and Styles was successful at doing that.
AJ Styles has become one of the top stars of WWE roster after gaining the trust of Vince McMahon and he has won over half a dozen championships in the company since then, including two world title reigns.
Kofi Kingston and Drew McIntyre are two of the top examples of stars who have managed to break the barriers of WWE in recent times and finally reach their full potential and The Miz has an interesting name who he believes will be the next to do the same.
The former World Champion recently had an interview with Kliq Pro Wrestling Podcast, where he talked about things like his reality show Miz and Mrs, the possibility of making changes to his current schedule and more.
During the interview, The Miz also talked about the recent WWE return of his former tag team partner John Morrison and the A-Lister predicted that the former Impact World Champion will be the next break out star in WWE:
“He’s an immense talent, and I think he’s the next big superstar to break out. I think he’s going to be a Universal Champion or WWE Champion. I think he deserves to be one because he has that much talent to be one.”
The Miz also explained that he did not persuade John to come back to the promotion and it was Morrison who wanted to return. However, he did help the former champion as much as possible because they are best friends.
WWE confirmed the reports of John Morrison’s re-signing in December last year and he made his return to WWE programming in early January. The former TNA star has since reunited with his partner the Miz and the two even won the SmackDown Tag Team Titles in February.
While the company hasn’t made an official announcement regarding the same, latest reports suggest that AEW has released three wrestlers from their roster.
According to reports from Wrestling Observer, the promotion has parted ways with three wrestlers including Jimmy Havoc, Bea Priestley, and Sadie Gibbs.
Havoc was last seen on the AEW TV back in May before he was accused of sexual assault as part of the #SpeakingOut movement in June.
The company had responded to these allegations by announcing that the British star will be undergoing treatment for mental health and substance abuse issues. The officials had promised to evaluate Jimmy’s position with the promotion upon the completion of his rehabilitation
Priestley who turned down a WWE contract to sign with AEW was last seen in the promotion in March. It was reported that the female star had trouble getting into the country due to the restrictions put in place after coronavirus outbreak.
Sadie Gibbs, on the other hand, hasn’t been seen on AEW programming this year. Her last match for the company was a tag team bout during AEW Dark.
The company has been removing the names of the released stars from their website one by one and it’s possible that more names will be added to this list in coming times. We’ll keep you posted on any further updates on the matter.
Big E is getting a shot at a singles run due to the injuries of Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston but E has made it clear that he is still a representative of the New Day even when he is competing on his own. However, several stars have spoken up against this mentality and people like CM Punk have said that the former NXT Champion should ‘dump’ his teammates to advance further in his career.
During his recent appearance on the Battleground podcast, Xavier Woods responded to these comments and he said that he loves the fact that people have enough passion about what’s going on to talk about it. He mentioned how it keeps people’s names in the zeitgeist but Woods went on to explain that their friendship is more important to the three than anything else:
“We’ve explained many times that, again, our friendship and bond is more important than anything else, Thee interesting thing about people saying things like this about E is, ‘oh, well you said the same things about Kofi.’ That worked out okay, I think. I think this is the vocal minority again, which is fine, everyone have your voice and use it the way you want, just don’t be disrespectful to people.”
Xavier Woods continued to explain that fans demand things that are different than the usual and we have seen people make it to the top using one specific toolbox. However, now that they are attempting something different they want the trio to go back to the old tools and according to Woods no one is right or wrong for having an opinion:
“Everyone has their opinion and everyone is entitled to it, and no one’s is right, no one’s is wrong because we can’t tell the future, we don’t know.” said Xavier Woods, “It’s great that people talk about it and want something to happen because I want something to happen too. I want E to hold all the titles, I want Kofi to hold all the titles; I want to hold all the titles. And so the way that we get there, we’re going to do it our own way.”
This is not the first time a New Day member has spoken up against the idea of the group being dismantled. During a recent interview, Big E had explained the importance of Xavier Woods for their group, saying that there would be no New Day without the former NXT star.
The Next WWE draft is on the horizon. Reports suggest that the company has shortlisted two dates in October for the same and Drew McIntyre has some interesting picks he would like to see change brands during the event.
The WWE Champion recently had an interview with Comicbook.com where he talked about things like his first stint with WWE, his ongoing rivalry with Randy Orton and more.
When asked which stars he would like to join the Raw brand if another WWE draft was to be held, McIntyre took the name of the current Universal Champion Braun Strowman:
“There’s a few guys, Like, Cesaro is on my list of never had a match ever. I’d love to have a big match with him. Braun Strowman and I have never had a big, significant singles match. I think that could be interesting.”
Drew McIntyre also took the name of Sheamus mentioning how they have a long history together and the former NXT Champion described his relationship with the Celtic Warrior as a “big brother, little brother relationship.”
Apart from this, The Scottish Psychopath was asked about his dream matches from the past and he took the name of people like Shawn Michaels and Triple H. You can check out his full interview at this link.
MVP recently had an interview with Sports Illustrated where he talked about things like his return to WWE, the potential of Apollo Crews, the concept of Raw Underground and more.
In his long career, the former US Champion has wrestled for a number of promotions. He has left his mark on companies like NJPW, ROH and Impact Wrestling, however, it all started with his first stint with WWE.
During the interview, MVP talked about his early career and when asked how Vince McMahon has influenced his career, the former Champion revealed the advice he got from the Boss about his segments with Matt Hardy:
I remember when I first got called up to WWE and I was doing segments with Matt Hardy in our feud, Vince pulled us to the side and said, very specifically, ‘When we’re doing these segments, I want you guys to be very involved. I want you to participate.’
Up until then, I thought my role was as talent, so I didn’t know I was allowed to do that.” said MVP, “But Vince was the one that opened that door for me, so I took a more hands-on approach.”
The Raw star continued by saying that WWE is the NFL of pro wrestling and he was able to learn from Vince McMahon and take those skills to the other places.
Apart from this, MVP also talked about his new faction called The Hurt Business, Bobby Lashley possibly becoming a world champion in future and more.
Brian Myers, formerly known as Curt Hawkins in WWE, returned to Impact Wrestling for the first time since 2015 during Tuesday night’s show.
Myers jumped right into the deep end of Impact Wrestling by answering an open challenge by World Champion Eddie Edwards. Myers put up a good fight, but Edwards ultimately put him away with his Boston Knee Party finisher.
Below you can see footage of Brian Myers answering the open challenge of Impact World Champion Eddie Edwards:
Curt Hawkins’ first run with WWE started in 2006 and it ended in 2014. The former WWE star spent most of his time during this run on the various development territories of the company.
After his release from the company, Myers had returned to the independent circuit and he had a short run with Impact Wrestling in 2015 as well where he represented the GFW promotion.
Hawkins was brought back by WWE in July 2016 and he has been making regular appearances on WWE TV ever since.
However, his latest run came to a halt due to coronavirus and the company released him as part of their budget cuts in April earlier this year.
Myers has been teasing his wrestling return in the past few weeks and he has been promoting himself as the “most professional wrestler” on social platforms.
Now it would be interesting to see if he ends up being a regular performer for Impact after his return and if his latest run lasts longer than his previous stint.
The main event of this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw saw Randy Orton facing Kevin Owens in a singles match with the WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair being at the ringside.
Orton won the fight and he then cut a promo on the Nature Boy, saying Flair’s ego during last week’s backstage segment with Owens got him into this bout.
The Viper went on to insult Flair and he made things personal, causing the WWE legend to get emotional. Randy then tried to turn things around and he embraced Flair, only to low blow him from behind.
Randy Orton didn’t stop there and he continued his attack on the 2 time Hall Of Famer with a punt kick to Flair’s head. Though fans weren’t able to see the actual kick due to the technical difficulties caused by RETRIBUTION and the lights went off and they came back on right after Orton finished the spot.
The WWE Champion Drew McIntyre ran down to check on the wrestling veteran after this and the show ended with McIntyre in the ring and Randy Orton staring him down from the stage.
WWE later posted a post-show video on their official YouTube channel and the video as seen below features the footage of Ric Flair being loaded onto a stretcher and being taken out of the arena:
WWE has already announced that Randy Orton will be facing the WWE Champion Drew McIntyre for his title at the upcoming SummerSlam PPV on August 23 from Performance Center.
Samoa Joe has been out of action for a while now but a new interview of MVP has fans buzzing about the potential in-ring return of the former NXT Champion.
The leader of the Hurt Business recently had an interview with Newsweek where he talked about things like his return to WWE TV, the concept of Raw Underground and more.
During the interview, MVP was asked about guys he would want to work with in future and the Raw star said that from what he understands; The Samoan Submission Machine will be back in action:
“What I understand, ole Samoa Joe is gonna be back in action and over the years Samoa Joe and I have been great friends, but we’ve never ever faced each other.
At this stage of my career, I think I feel a lot more confident facing him” said MVP “knowing that I got Bobby and Shelton backing me up—but I also know that wouldn’t phase Joe in the least.”
Samoa Joe has been on and off WWE television in recent months and he has been out of action for several reasons, including multiple injuries and a wellness policy violation.
Now these comments from MVP have given new hope to the fans of Joe and it would be interesting to see if the former champion returns to in-ring action anytime soon.
WWE has filed for a dozen new trademarks in the past week, which includes trademarks for some factions and the names of various superstars.
The most interesting one of these trademarks is for the name Retribution for goods and service, specifically for being used as a name for wrestling character, which the company filed on August 4.
Retribution is the new faction which debuted on the August 3 episode of Raw and they have since made their presence felt during the following episode of SmackDown as well.
Other trademarks filed on the same day include Mustance Mountain, Karrion Kross, James Drake, Jake Atlas, Indi Hartwell, and Kacy Catanzaro which are similar in nature to the Retribution trademark.’
Though this is not all as the company filed an application for additional trademarks the next day on August 5, including Gallus, Indus Sher, Grizzled Young Veterans, Legado del Fantasma and Imperium.
These trademark applications suggest that the company has big plans for the Retribution in future and we can expect to see a lot more of the new faction in coming times.
It would also be interesting to see how the promotion utilises the other trademarks and if filings such as the one for Imperium could mean that we might start seeing them on the main roster sooner rather than later.
With multiple world title victories and many memorable matches under his belt, it’s safe to say that AJ Styles has cemented his spot in the WWE Hall Of Fame after his retirement.
However, the former World Champion does not want to go in the traditional way and he believes that the inductors who induct the legends sometimes end up taking too much time.
Styles talked about a potential Hall Of Fame induction during a recent Twitch stream. While explaining how he would like to go in, AJ said that he would rather go out and do his thing than being inducted by someone else:
“If I had the opportunity to go into the WWE Hall Of Fame, I’d rather a music video play, and then I come out, and I do my thing, that’s what I’d rather happen.
I think that’s more entertaining – I mean, sometimes I feel like they take too long when they’re inducting someone.” said AJ Styles “Like, it’s not your time; it’s someone else’s time. Induct them short and sweet.”
The current Intercontinental Champion also talked about other wrestling companies and how he doesn’t get a chance to catch up on other promotions while being a part of the WWE bubble.
However, Styles admitted that he still watches highlight of other shows every now and then, especially when it involves his friends who work at the other promotions like NJPW and AEW.
Eric Bischoff was one of the key figures of the Monday Night Wars and he is still seen making wrestling appearances here and there, such as his appearance on last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite.
However, since he is not a regular character on any shows, any appearance could end up being his last televised appearance and it’s possible that we might never see the 65-year-old star on TV after this week.
Bischoff talked about this possibility during the latest episode of his 83 weeks podcast and the former WCW official said that he would be okay if he never steps in front of a camera again:
“If I never step in front of a camera again, if I never go backstage again anywhere, it would be okay to me, I’m really glad that my last experience in a backstage environment watching a bunch of young talent, fresh talent and hungry talent that believe they can make a difference, that energy is something I walked away with. If that’s the last experience I have, it will be a great one.”
Eric Bischoff also talked about the backstage environment and the creative process of AEW. He revealed that there was no writer’s room at AEW and the talents had a lot of say in their promos and characters.
The former WCW President was brought in as a guest moderator for the debate between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy on last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite. At this point, his appearance is expected to be a one off deal.
