Tony Khan is not a fan of breaking the fourth wall with the AEW production, according to former world champion Paul Wight.
Wight recently had an interview with WNYT. The wrestling veteran discussed the various differences between WWE and AEW during his appearance.
Speaking about how Tony Khan’s production values differ from Vince McMahon and WWE, Wight explained that the AEW President doesn’t like breaking the fourth wall:
“The fourth wall, so to speak, Tony Khan doesn’t like that fourth wall. He doesn’t like that, ‘why is there a camera there catching this conversation and both participants ignore that there is a camera crew there while they are talking top secret information.’
It’s one of those things that throws you off.” explained Paul Wight, “If there is a camera there, it’s set up in a way that makes sense for a camera to be backstage, but it’s more focused on the talent in the ring,”
The former Big Show also commented on the different production philosophies between the two companies. He noted how WWE does an amazing job of producing a big entertainment spectacle.
AEW on the other hand gets to the grassroots. According to Paul Wight, it’s not so much backstage drama and backstage vignettes.
NXT Black and Gold is back. WWE celebrated the one-year anniversary of the NXT 2.0 brand this week and presented a solid show. It kicked off with a cage match and ended with Solo Sikoa winning the North American Championship.
Though this wasn’t the end of the night as the commentators noted that there was one more thing in store for the fans.
This announcement was followed by a voiceover from the new head of the brand Shawn Michaels, who noted how the show is constantly evolving:
“NXT has been and always will be developing superstars of tomorrow. We will always reflect and acknowledge the past. NXT is constantly evolving with a focus on the future. Superstars develop and move on, but our message to our passionate fans will never change – We Are NXT.”
The message was accompanied by a graphic that started with the logo of NXT 2.0 but slowly changed into a Black and Gold design, shedding the 2.0 branding:
With Triple H now the in charge of WWE creative, we can safely assume that this is a hint that the show he built will be returning to its roots.
WWE has not provided a lot of details so it’s hard to say how this transition will happen. One thing is for sure that fans will accept this change with open hands.
AEW star Adam Cole, a former NXT Champion, immediately took notice of the NXT rebrand and posted the following on social media:
NXT star Yulisa Leon has confirmed that she has suffered a knee injury and that she will be out of action for the foreseeable future.
This week’s episode of the development show featured a backstage segment starring Sanga, Valentina Feroz and Leon.
Leon was seen walking out of the medical area. She told her friends that she is going to be out of action with an injury for 9 months, saying that ‘it’s torn.’
The NXT star was wearing a knee brace, so it’s clear that she has suffered some sort of knee injury, but it’s not known what ligament is torn.
Sanga said that they need to turn this negative into a positive and that now would be Valentina’s time to showcase her skills.
Robert Stone and Wagner then walked in and Stone noted that they all looked depressed. Sanga told him to watch their language and Wagner got into his face. Stone talked him down, and the two walked off.
Yulisa Leon and Valentina Feroz were gaining momentum as a tag team on both NXT and NXT Level Up before the injury. There is no word on where Yulisa suffered the injury but we’ll keep you posted on her recovery.
Sammy Guevara has been a part of the AEW roster since the very beginning and he is tired of being overlooked by the management and the fans.
The former TNT champion is set to face Jon Moxley in the semi-finals of the Tournament of Champions to determine the new AEW champion on Dynamite this week.
Before the big bout, Guevara vented his frustrations on the latest episode of his vlog. He first noted that he has been part of the promotion since the very beginning:
“I’ve been here since day 1 and I don’t get the respect I deserve. Not from anybody back there in the back. Not anyone in the locker room, nowhere. Not from these fans, these ungrateful fans. So let’s screw it. I don’t need anyone.”
Sammy Guevara claimed that he is going to beat Moxley in the match this Wednesday night. It will earn him the recognization he deserves:
“I’m gonna get what I always should have got. The recognition. I should have got everything I deserve. I’m not here because I got fired from somewhere else. I am here because I wanna be. I’m not asking for my release. I wanna be here.”
Apart from Guevara vs Moxley, the episode this Wednesday night will feature matches such as Chris Jericho vs. Bryan Danielson and Toni Storm & Hikaru Shida vs. Dr. Britt Baker & Serena Deeb.
Claudio Castagnoli was part of many great as well as embarrassing moments during his WWE run. One such moment people don’t remember very fondly is when Castagnoli and Sheamus known as The Bar lost the Raw Tag Team Championships to Braun Strowman and 10-year-old Nicholas at WrestleMania 34.
Castagnoli opened up about this loss during his recent appearance on Insight. However, while a lot of people hated WWE for putting the tag team in the situation, the former WWE star explained why he thought the moment to be cool:
“I thought it was really cool. [It’s] what I love about wrestling, right? All the kinds of different matches. The roller coaster ride it takes you on. That WrestleMania needed a match like that where it’s just fun. Every show needs fun matches. WrestleMania, everybody is nervous, everybody’s hyped. It’s WrestleMania.”
‘That Was Very Cool’: Claudio Castagnoli
Claudio Castagnoli claimed that the match was fun for them too. It’s something that people remember till this date:
“Once everything was figured out, that match was so much fun. We were just able to go out there and enjoy it. We had the float, it’s called the thing, right? With all the guys with the big head coming out with us. So it was a crazy, awesome entrance. The match was just fun. Like I said earlier, it’s all about moments. If you’re a kid, and you’re watching WrestleMania, that could be you, right?
So that was very cool to be in that match for that matter and the fact that people still talk about it to that day. Because there was some bangers on that card. A lot of people always ask like, ‘So Nicholas?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I know right?’ So I’m very proud to be part of that match.”
Claudio Castagnoli did a lot of amazing things in WWE, including saving the job of Tyler Breeze with an uppercut.
The AEW star recently appeared on the Insight podcast. During the Q&A session of the show, Tyler Breeze sent a video message. He asked Castagnoli to tell the story of how an uppercut saved his job. Revealing the story behind it, the former US champion recalled how his first match in FCW was against Breeze:
“Oh, I think what he’s talking about, he makes this joke. He was there in FCW when I just got there. I wrestled my first match against him ever on FCW TV. It was just kind of supposed to be a get over match. Because I don’t think they were very high on him at that time, which I didn’t know.
The uppercut he was talking about is when I popped the guy up and uppercut him on the way down. He just took it like a madman and went super high in the sky. I took his head off.”
‘Showed Everybody How Good He Actually Was’: Claudio Castagnoli
Claudio Castagnoli explained that after the match, people asked him how Tyler Breeze was to work with. The praise Castagnoli gave him helped change the perspective about Breeze and saved his job:
“But after that match, everybody was like, ‘How’s it to work with him.’ I’m like, ‘He’s great’, They all [are] like ‘Hey, he’s really good. he’s really good.’ Then fast forward three months and he was FCW champ or something.
What that’s alluding to is [that] I uppercutted his head off, but saved his job in the process. Because they were not high on him before and then afterwards, they were rightfully so very high on him after. So I don’t think I did anything. I think he did everything. He just showed everybody how good he actually was.”
The Boss spoke to Page Six about her modeling debut. She first mentioned how she grew up watching all Victoria’s Secret girls and she always dreamt of being on a runaway.
Speaking about her experience on the ramp, Banks compared it to her first wrestling match. She claimed that she was back to being the new girl again:
“It felt chaotic. It felt like my first wrestling match all over again! I’m back to being the new girl. It felt like everyone was like, ‘Who’s this? Who’s taking my spot?’
But I just had to walk in with confidence like I knew what I was doing” said Sasha Banks, “Because this has been a dream of mine for such a long time, to be in the modeling space.”
The former women’s champion claimed that she was very nervous before going out but she called her guardian angles. She then felt like she had her own personal wings.
Sasha Banks was believed to have agreed to a new WWE deal as of a few weeks ago. There hasn’t been any update on her WWE status since.
A match between Bully Ray and Matt Cardona has finally been announced. It will be taking place from a legendary arena.
The two wrestling stars have been trading shots on Twitter and other places for the last few weeks, teasing a match between them.
Cardona had claimed that he is an ECW original and the Deathmatch King, a title he earned by defeating Nick Gage for the GCW championship at Homecoming 2021.
Bully Ray fired back at the former WWE star saying that Cardona wouldn’t have lasted a day in the original ECW.
Matt Cardona vs. Bully Ray
Matt Cardona then confirmed earlier today on Twitter that he will be facing the Attitude Era star at an upcoming event of Battleground Championship.
The event, dubbed as ‘A Tribute to the Extreme’ will be held at the former home of ECW in the 2300 Arena in December this year. Ray’s legendary tag team partner D-Von Dudley will be in his corner for this bout:
Matt Cardona had been on the shelf with a torn bicep for a few months. He returned to the ring at NWA 74. Since then, he seems to be on the mission to once again become the hottest free agent in the indie circuit.
Johnny Gargano wrestled his first match in 9 months on this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw from Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.
The former NXT champion made his triumphant return to WWE during the August 22 episode of the show. He was then announced for a match against Chad Gable this week.
This week’s episode of the Red Branded Show saw Gargano putting on a great wrestling match against the former American Alpha member.
The ending of this bout saw Gable reversing a crossface into an ankle lock. However, Johnny managed to escape. He sent Chad out of the ring and delivered a taupe suicida through the middle rope.
Johnny Gargano then hit a DDT on Chad Gable to pick up his first victory in 9 months since the WarGames match back in December.
Gabel’s tag team partner Otis tried to attack Gargano after the match but he escaped. Though before he could reach the entrance ramp, Theory attacked Gargano from behind using the Money In The Bank briefcase. Theory then took a selfie with him.
The segment with Gargano ended here but Theory stayed in the ring and took some shots at the former NXT star. Kevin Owens then came out to confront the Mr Money In The Banks.
Damage CTRL is your new Women’s Tag Team Champions.
A lot of people criticized WWE’s decision of putting the women’s tag titles on Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah instead of Damage CTRL in the tournament they held to crown new champion. The company seems to have rectified this mistake.
This week’s episode of Monday Night Raw from Moda Center in Portland, Oregon saw the newly crowned champions defending their titles for the first time.
The ending of the bout saw Rodriguez putting Dakota Kai down with a couple of lariats. She also hit a twisting splash before letting Aliyah tag in.
Rodriguez sent her tag partner onto Kai before being attacked by IO Sky. Aliyah tried rolling up Dakota Kai but Kai kicked out.
Aliyah hit a jawbreaker on Kai. She went for the pin again but Bayley put Kai’s foot on the rope, forcing the break.
This led to Aliyah delivering a baseball kick to Bayley before Sky took her out. Dakota Kai then delivered the Kai-ropractor for the win.
Apart from this, the show featured matches such as Finn Balor vs Riddle and a match between Dominik Mysterio and Edge that is yet to come. You can check out the full results on SEScoops after the show.
The wrestling world has spent the last week debating whether CM Punk’s actions at the All Out media scrum were right and if the AEW EVPs should have responded to it the way they did. Bully Ray is of the belief that the Executives should have used their corporate power instead of trying to confront Punk physically.
The WWE Hall of Famer talked about the whole situation on Busted Open Radio. Speaking about The Elite’s reaction to CM Punk’s comments, Ray said that the trio of Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks should have flexed their corporate muscle:
“Once Punk says the shit that he does, it’s up to the EVPs also to actually flex their corporate muscle. Who’s higher up on the food chain, an Executive Vice President or your World Heavyweight Champion? [The Executive] because that’s a real job within AEW. That’s a real job within the WWE.
So at that moment, the EVPs should have gotten together and said ‘Punk, Phil, we’d like to talk to you. Sit down’ When he turns around and goes ‘Screw you. I don’t have to talk to you’ [You go] ‘No, we’re the Executive Vice Presidents of company. You’re going to sit down. We want to talk to you.'”
‘You Can Shut Them Down’: Bully Ray
Bully Ray also discussed how Tony Khan handled the media scrum rant of the then AEW champion. Ray explained that once Punk shut Tony down, the AEW President should have turned around and said that it was enough:
“I went as far as to say that I quote unquote, felt bad for Tony Khan in that moment, because it seemed like he could not control what Punk was saying or what he was about to say. But in that moment, once Punk shut Tony down. That’s where Tony had to turn around and go ‘Timeout. Enough. This is where it ends. Next question please.’
You are the billion-dollar owner of the company. You have all the control in the world. If you want to shut them down. You can shut them down.”
The altercation between CM Punk and The Elite has made the topic of backstage fights popular again. Mark Henry, who comes from a time when locker room disputes were a lot more common, thinks that things should be settled the ‘old school way.’
The former world champion talked about it on Busted Open Radio. He was asked about the backstage altercation and how he thinks it should be dealt with. Replying to it, Henry detailed what late wrestling promoter Paul Boesch used to do:
“I liked the old school version. Paul Boesch used to move all the furniture out of the way.” remembered Mark Henry, “Put the guys in a room and say, ‘Okay, you can settle it with your fists, or you can pull a couple of these chairs up. Sit down and talk about it. But if you do get into it physically, the one that loses, you’re out of here.’ I like that because 9 times out of 10 the guys usually just pulled chairs up and was like, ‘Man, what the hell?’ They talked it out.
Mark Henry continued, “Then they come out of the room shaking hands. like, ‘Well man that was a misunderstanding?’ ‘Well, you should have said that, we should have talked about this before,’ But prior, these dick swinging contests make the boys fight each other. You have to be able to put all your prideful things aside. Talk about it and get it out of the way.”
Bianca Belair is living her dream in the pro wrestling world as the Raw women’s champion right now. Though she doesn’t want people to just watch her winning the matches and titles. The female star instead wants them to see themselves and believe that it’s possible for them too.
The EST had an interview with Rebellious Noise Pro Wrestling. When asked about the importance of representation, she revealed two quotes which she lives by:
“It’s very important. I always live by the quote, ‘Representation is not a request, it’s a requirement.’ So it’s very important for me to be able to relate to other people and identify with other people.” said Bianca Belair, “Another quote out there that I heard with someone that was like ‘Listen if you see me and you get inspired, I’m not really the inspiration, you just see yourself in me. So you are the inspiration.’
That’s what I really want people to see when they see me. I don’t want them to see someone that they’re watching doing moves in the ring or winning championships. I want them to see themselves and see that what I’m doing, it’s very possible for them to do as well.”
You can check out Bianca Belair’s full interview below:
The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin were two of the top WWE talents during the Attitude Era. However, while Austin had to retire from the business not long after the Monday Night Wars ended, Taker continued his career for much longer. According to the Texas Rattlesnake, this is a feat that no one else will achieve.
The former face of WWE recently had an interview with SportsKeeda. Speaking about The Undertaker, Steve Austin claimed that he knew Mark Calaway would be a star before he became the Dead Man:
“30 years in the WWE, that’s something no one else will do. If they’d gave that gimmick to anybody else and I told Mark this to his face, it might have lasted two years, maybe three. Then it just fell off and no one would have been able to do it like he did. It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing where they caught lightning in the bottle.
I knew Mark was going to be a star when we stunk out the Sportatorium. He was working as The Punisher and I was Stunning Steve. Mark is an amazing talent. For him to be able to make that run and make those micro adjustments to that character. Stay in touch with that fan base, and always [be] at the top or very near to the top to keep himself in that position for Vince to use as he did. A frickin master.”
You can watch Steve Austin’s interview below:
If you use the quotes from the article please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription
For KENTA, his WWE career was one of the worst experiences in the wrestling business because he wasn’t able to use the GTS move he created.
The Japanese star joined WWE back in January 2014 as Hideo Itami. It was around the same time when CM Punk made his infamous departure from the promotion.
Since Punk used the GTS move as a finisher in WWE for a long time, KENTA wasn’t allowed to use the maneuver during his 4 years long run with the company.
KENTA then made another comment referring to Punk and his time in WWE recently. He mentioned how he wasn’t able to use the GTS move during this period:
“Let the world know. One of my worst experience in this business is that I was not allowed to use MY finishing move for 4 years. A move which I created on my own. WHAT A LIFE.”
Let the world know. One of my worst experience in this business is that I was not allowed to use MY finishing move for 4 years. A move which I created on my own.
CM Punk has not yet responded to the remarks from KENTA. Though we can be certain that the former WWE champion has taken a note of it and Punk may fire back at him at the right time.
Posted September 12th, 2022 in WWE, News. Tagged: KENTA.
Veer Mahaan is one of the stars that hasn’t been seen on WWE programming since Triple H took over the creative. It appears that he won’t be returning anytime soon.
Fightful Select recently provided a minor update on the Indian star. They noted that there aren’t any imminent creative plans for the Raw star:
“We’ve heard there aren’t significant imminent creative plans for Veer as of right now. As with anything, that can change.”
Veer Mahaan originally joined WWE back in January 2018. He made his in ring debut during a live event in May that year and Robert Strauss was assigned to be his manager at the beginning.
Mahaan’s televised debut came during the March 25, 2020 episode of NXT. The young star was joined by Saurav Gurjar, and manager Malcolm Bivens
The former baseball player made his Raw debut during the May 6, 2021 episode of the Red Branded Show along with Shanky. They aligned themselves with Jinder Mahal.
Shanky was drafted to SmackDown during the 2021 draft while Veer remained on Raw. WWE started airing vignettes in November hyping up his arrival. He finally returned to Raw during the April 4, 2022 episode of the show.
The character of Veer Mahaan fitted the vision of Vince McMahon for the WWE roster. With Triple H in charge, it’s possible that he will get yet another new gimmick when Veer returns.
Different people have different opinions on CM Punk’s post All Out media scrum rant. There are many who believe that Punk was in the wrong. There are some others like Ric Flair who seem to support the former WWE star.
The 16-time world champion talked about the whole debacle on his To Be The Man podcast. He first mentioned how Punk is giving a lot of entertainment to fans.
Ric Flair then commented on the Straight Edge Star telling people to come and find him in his locker room. The wrestling veteran explained that it’s the old-school way of doing things and he loves it:
“He’s creating excitement now, and if he’s not afraid to say it…. I like the way he said I’ll walk down the hall and be ready.
That’s Harley Race talking right there. I don’t if he’s that tough but [laughs] I love it.” said Ric Flair, “That’s old-time stuff right there, it is. You got a problem with me, you can find me, right there in the building,”
The 2-time WWE Hall of Famer noted how he doesn’t know The Elite all that well and they have seemed easy to get along with in the limited encounter they have had.
However, Flair reiterated that what Punk did was showing courage. If he feels so strongly about someone then Ric doesn’t blame him for calling them out.
Claudio Castagnoli dared to leave his well-earned position in WWE and try something new with AEW. According to the former US champion, his motivation was keeping himself sharp and making sure that he still got it.
The former WWE star recently appeared on The Kurt Angle Show. He was first asked about his WWE departure and Castagnoli explained that it was time for him to try something new:
“I kind of felt that it was time to try something new. To look for a new challenge. Towards the end [of my run] my mind was made up. I’m always happy and grateful. I was happy and grateful [in WWE]. But I also knew where I was thought of, you know what I mean?
So I was just looking for something different at this point, and to me when I look at AEW, there’s so many guys that I want to be in the ring with that I have not necessarily been in the ring with.”
‘I Want To See If I Still Got It’: Claudio Castagnoli
(via AEW)
Claudio Castagnoli then explained the philosophy he learned from John Cena. He mentioned that he wants to surround himself with people who can push him to do better and he wants to retire while he can still wrestle competently:
“There’s so many young people there that I was like, ‘This is amazing. I wanna be part of that.’ I really want to because again you’re only as good as your last match. You need to surround yourself with people, and I always have, that push you and are better than you. To me it was like I looked at it and I was [like] ‘Okay, I wanna go to AEW, and I want to wrestle of all those young guys. I want to see if I still got it.’
Because when people ask me like ‘When you think it’s time for you to retire? Certain age, this or that’ it’s whenever I get in that ring and I feel like I [have] lost two steps. I never want people to think, ‘Oh man I wish he would have [retired]’ I’m like ‘No, I wanna go out when I still can do what I can.'”
You can watch Claudio Castagnoli’s full interview below:
Claudio Castagnoli got to wrestle some of the biggest names in the wrestling world during his time with WWE. One of them was John Cena, who the former WWE star got the chance of sharing the ring with during Cena’s US open challenge run.
Castagnoli recently joined The Kurt Angle show. When asked about his experience with John, the AEW star claimed that he has nothing but good things to say about the Cenation Leader. He also revealed the philosophy he has learned from the 16-time world champion:
“I’ve nothing but good things to say about John. John is an awesome person. He has a very high standard for himself. He’s one of those people that doesn’t just say how you should do it or say how it should be done. He shows you.” said Claudio Castagnoli, “He does it every day. He lives it. You know what I mean?
If he tells you to watch all the matches, he’s sitting there at the monitor watching all the matches. If he tells you, ‘You should work out.’ He is there working out early in the morning. [He’s] somebody I deeply respect. That’s kind of how I tried to do my career. Whatever I would say, I just do it. If people wanna take notice that’s good. If not, I feel like I don’t want to park it all around.”
‘Absolutely Amazing’: Claudio Castagnoli
Speaking about their matches as part of the US open challenge, Claudio Castagnoli mentioned how Cena was already a legend at that point. However, he still worked hard and tried to prove himself with every match:
“Being in the ring with him for that open challenge was awesome. Because he was a legend at that point, and still every match he wants to go out there and prove it. He’s the one that said it. I probably had it always kind of in my brain but he’s the one that said that ‘You’re only as good as your last match.’
That kind of stuck with me because every time you go through that curtain, you want to prove yourself to everybody. So with him to have that open challenge and him working so hard and having such a fun match with me was absolutely amazing.”
You can watch Claudio Castagnoli’s full interview below:
The Undisputed Era were one of the hottest commodities of the Black and Gold era of NXT. Though many people believe that the group was disbanded prematurely. Bobby Fish admits that the end of the stable when it happened was a mistake.
The former WWE star recently spoke to Steve Fall of NBC Sports Boston. Speaking about the break-up of The Undisputed Era, Fish explained that they evolved a little bit too quickly, leading to a premature break up:
“I just think things changed and everything needs to evolve. I think we had evolved quite a bit in a very short time. Maybe we moved a little bit quicker than we needed to as far as the timing of when to pull the trigger on stuff and when not to.
The people that made decisions at this time would probably agree that we split apart premature. I think there was more left for us to do as a unit. I think that was the plan and then it wasn’t the plan and then it was the plan and then it wasn’t.” said Bobby Fish, “Then they just weren’t sure what to do. So we pulled the trigger. You learn from your mistakes.”
Undisputed Era made their debut during NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III in 2017. The four members of the group held all four male titles of the development brand at one point in 2019. They were disbanded in 2021 when Adam Cole attacked Kyle O’Reilly during NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day.
Dolph Ziggler has been a part of the wrestling world for a long time and he has seen many highs and lows. He has now reached the place where personal accolades do not interest him. The Show off instead is focused on making sure that he leaves the business better than when he started.
The former world champion had an interview with The Wrestling Classic. He was asked what’s left in his bucket list. Ziggler first mentioned how he had the idea to cash in his Money In The Bank contract to get a match with Shawn Michaels back in the day. However, now he is focused on helping younger talents who can pass the knowledge when their time comes:
“When it comes to now 2022 It’s just finding someone like a Theory, who’s quickly picking it up, crushing it, and be able to have some time on the weekend.” said Dolph Ziggler, “Live event matches where we don’t have to go to commercial in 90 seconds. We got 25-30 minutes, and you beat him down and you see what he can do. Then you see if he can pass that on to someone else when you’ve done.
So things like that are much more important. To be leaving the business better than when you started and actually have a meaningful impact on not just young talent, or talent the same age or even talent that are older than me. Being able to know that no matter what the win-loss record is out there. No matter what fans online say. Everyone in that locker room says ‘This is the guy I want leading my platoon, putting the company on his back, putting me over his shoulder, and passing it on to the next generation.'”
The drama that ensued from CM Punk’s media scrum comments has attracted reactions from all over the wrestling world including a WWE star.
WWE announced a fatal five-way #1 contenders match for the SmackDown Women’s Championship for tonight’s show earlier on Friday.
Natalya who was one of the participants of the bout took this opportunity to make a joke about the CM Punk situation. The former women’s champion replied to a tweet about the bout as her assistant.
She noted how she hasn’t sued anyone in this match despite being a locker room leader. She was also eating a muffin while writing the message:
“This is Bob. Ms Neidhart hasn’t sued anyone in this match, and she’s also a locker room leader. For some reason, she was eating a muffin when she dictated this message to me. Bye.”
This is Bob. Ms Neidhart hasn't sued anyone in this match, and she's also a locker room leader. For some reason, she was eating a muffin when she dictated this message to me. Bye. https://t.co/APQpwkWK3C
Latest reports on the matter suggest that CM Punk’s comments about the AEW EVPs during the press conference may have been premeditated. He intentionally tried to bury the company executives during the post-show media scrum.
AEW has brought in an independent firm to investigate the issue. If the claims against the former AEW champion are verified, then it may very well lead to his departure from the promotion.
Posted September 10th, 2022 in WWE, News. Tagged: Natalya.
WWE announced the tournament to crown the new Women’s Tag Team champions in the midst of all this. The tournament was won by Aliyah and Raquel Rodriguez.
It was believed that both Sasha Banks and Naomi will return to TV shortly after this tournament concludes since they never officially lost the titles. However, they haven’t made their return so far.
Thunder Rosa announced her injury on August 24 episode of Dynamite and confirmed that she will be taking time off.
This was just a couple weeks before she was supposed to face Toni Storm for the title at the PPV event and it appears that the timing of the announcement got her some heat.
Dave Meltzer provided the latest update on the situation in Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He reiterated that Rosa’s injury is legit. She stopped wrestling in fear that she may require surgery if she continued.
However, the Women’s Champion informed people of the damage only hours after she was told that she would be dropping the title to Storm at the PPV.
This peculiar timing created a lot of conjecture about the situation, with some comparing it to Shawn Michaels in the 90s.
The women’s division already had divisive issues about Thunder Rosa before the announcement. It has only been fuelled further because Rosa didn’t drop the title in the ring before taking the time off.
Talents like Storm and Britt Baker have publicly taken shots at Rosa insinuating that the injury isn’t really that serious. She took the time off to avoid dropping the title at All Out.
There is no word yet on how long Thunder Rosa will stay out of action and it would be interesting to see if she drops the title when she comes back.
Johnny Gargano was living a peaceful life at home and contemplating the idea of never returning to wrestling at all. This was until he heard a song.
The former NXT champion appeared on After The Bell podcast. Among other things, he discussed his time away from wrestling and how he was enjoying his stint as a stay-at-home dad. When Vic Joseph asked Gargano if he considered just calling it a career at the time, Gargano noted that he was considering the possibility, until he heard the song Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush:
“This is when I knew what I wanted to do. I was watching Stranger Things and the song came on. The first thing that popped into my head was ‘Wait a minute, that’s Shawn vs. The Undertaker song from WrestleMania.’ That’s where my mind went. I was like, ‘I remember that.’ That’s right and I watched a hype video for Shawn and Taker from Mania.”
‘It Just Hit Me’: Johnny Gargano
Johnny Gargano recalled watching the video on his kitchen table. It reminded him of what he originally got into wrestling for:
“I sat there in the kitchen. Candice was right there. She can tell you this. I sat there in the kitchen. I watched this hype video. She’s doing baby stuff. It just hit me watching this video. I was like, ‘This is what I want to do.’ I want this. This is where I want to be and this is what I want to do. This is why I got into this. To have videos like this about me but also to have these WrestleMania stories and matches, and I haven’t had that yet. “
You can watch the promo that inspired Johnny Gargano’s return below:
