The latest wave of WWE releases has created some controversy after it was reported that the vaccination status of some wrestlers played a part in the decision.

The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter provided some more details on this. It explains how the situation was behind the scene.

According to the Newsletter, while talents were very much encouraged to get COVID-19 vaccines, nobody in WWE was warned that their jobs would be in danger if they didn’t get vaccinated.

One top talent was told they would be less valuable to the company if they weren’t vaccinated. This was because non-vaccinated talents couldn’t travel overseas for tours.

For those who don’t know, WWE released another 18 talents on November 4, including names such as Keith Lee, Karrion Kross, and Nia Jax.

• Staggering Tally Of WWE Wrestlers Released In 2021

It was later reported that the vaccination status of wrestlers was a factor behind some of these releases. This created a buzz and even prompted a response from Jax.

Though this isn’t the only controversy brewing from the latest wave of releases. Keith Lee has got people talking after claiming that he paid his own medical bills when he caught COVID. WWE has since responded to the claims calling them ‘erroneous.’

Corey Graves has got people talking about a potential in-ring return after briefly getting involved in the action during this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw.

The Raw commentator took on his Twitter earlier today and teased an in-ring return with a tweet. He wrote “I kinda wanna wrestle again.”

This tweet has created buzz about the future of Corey Graves because he got physical during Raw and won the 24/7 championship on the show before dropping it back.

The former NXT star signed with WWE back in August 2011. He started competing in the development brand FCW before it was rebranded.

He suffered two concussions in late 2013 and early 2014. Graves officially announced his retirement from active competition due to concussion issues in December 2014.

• Corey Graves Talks Lack of Character Development in WWE

The former tag champion has taken on commentary duties since his retirement. The 37-year-old currently serves as the lead commentator for both Raw and SmackDown.

We have seen people like Bryan Danielson and Edge making a return in recent years after previously having announced their retirement due to various issues.

Now the big question is if Corey Graves could be following in their footsteps soon and if we will see him making an in-ring return in near future.

Matt Cardona has built a spot for himself in the independent circuit since his release from WWE, and he has no interest in going back anytime soon.

The former WWE star recently had an interview with WrestlingInc. He discussed things such as what was the lowest point of his wrestling career and more.

He was also asked about a potential return to WWE or AEW. Cardona claimed that he is forever grateful for his time in WWE but at the same time, he has no intention of going back anytime soon:

“I’ve not been talking to WWE, listen, I love WWE. I love my time there; I am forever grateful for my time. The only thing I ever wanted to do was be a WWE Superstar.

If it wasn’t for WWE, I wouldn’t have been able to create my podcast and have the time of my life right now.” said Matt Cardona, “I’m not saying, ‘never say never,’ but I have no intentions of going back anytime in the near future.”

Though the former champion later mentioned how he previously won the IC title the last time WrestleMania was in Dallas. He claimed that he would be open to a Hall Of Fame induction when the PPV returns to the area next year.

Elsewhere in the interview, Matt Cardona also revealed that he had a chat with AEW president Tony Khan a couple of months ago. Although he explained that he wasn’t offered a deal to return to the promotion.

Matt Cardona was put into many embarrassing storylines during his stint with WWE. He has revealed which one he considers the worst.

The former WWE star recently had an interview with WrestlingInc. He discussed things such as how he is able to reinvent himself and more.

Speaking of his tag team with Mojo Rawley, Cardona said that it was worse than being thrown off the stage in a wheelchair by Kane:

“It’s a career-low. That’s definitely below (being pushed on the stage by Kane), the worst thing ever in my career. I wouldn’t bring The Hype Bros anywhere. Dean Muhtadi as a human being, love him. Mojo, hate him, tough sh*t, not happening.

He can come backstage and hang out in my private dressing room,” said Matt Cardona, “but we will not be in front of the people on camera together ever again.”

• Matt Cardona Has Officially Retired From Deathmatches

The former GCW champion continued by explaining that he has already won the tag team titles at WrestleMania. He doesn’t want to be a tag team wrestler anymore.

Matt Cardona and Mojo Rawley formed The Hype Bros in NXT in 2015. The team lasted till 2017 before Rawley attacked his partner and turned heel.

The tensions have been rising between Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio in recent times. Latest report suggests that it will lead to a feud between the two soon.

Andrew Zarian of Mat Men podcast provided an update on the storyline involving the father-son duo. He confirmed that the officials are planning to split the two:

Both the wrestling stars have been talking about Dominik donning the iconic mask and taking over the Rey Mysterio mantle in recent times.

Though at the same time neither of them seem interested in having a feud with each other to pass the torch. They have suggested alternate ideas for the same.

There is no word on the exact timetable for this feud but with the year coming to a close, it’s likely that WWE will continue the slow burn leading to a match between Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania next year.

It will also be interesting to see what the future holds for Rey after this rivalry is over. The wrestling veteran has previously confirmed that he was considering retirement before his son came along.

How do you feel about a potential rivalry between Rey and Dominik? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

AEW has confirmed a couple of new matches for their upcoming Full Gear PPV including the bout for Malakai Black and more.

This week’s episode of Dynamite saw Dax Harwood facing Pac in a one-on-one match. The ending saw Pac submit his opponent for the win.

However, the high-flying star kept the hold even after the bout was over. This led to Cash Wheeler, Andrade El Idolo, Malakai Black, Cody Rhodes, Rey Fenix, and Penta all coming out to the ring.

An all-out brawl broke out between these two groups. After this, AEW announced that Cody Rhodes will be teaming with Pac to face Andrade and Black at the PPV.

The promotion also confirmed a buy-in match for the show. They revealed that Nyla Rose and Jamie Hayter will be teaming up to face Thunder Rosa and Hikaru Shida.

Updated Full Gear Match Card

Including the buy-in bout, a total of 10 matches have been announced for the Full Gear PPV. Here is the updated match card for the show:

• AEW World Championship Match: Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Page
• AEW Women’s World Championship Match: Britt Baker vs. Tay Conti
• AEW World Tag Team championship match: Lucha Brothers vs. FTR
• World Title Eliminator Tournament Finals: Bryan Danielson vs. Miro
• Minneapolis Street Fight: Inner Circle vs. Men of the Year, Junior Dos Santos, Andrei Arlovski, and Dan Lambert
• Falls Count Anywhere: Jurassic Express and Christian Cage vs. Adam Cole and The Young Bucks
• Singles Match: Eddie Kingston vs. CM Punk
• Singles Match: Darby Allin vs. MJF
• Tag Team Match: PAC and Cody Rhodes vs. Malakai Black and Andrade El Idolo
• The Buy In: Nyla Rose and Jamie Hayter vs. Thunder Rosa and Hikaru Shida

AEW Full Gear will be taking place this Saturday on November 13, 2021, at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The war of words between AEW and WWE has heated up in recent months. Shots have been traded from both sides not only by the officials but performers from both companies as well. Though Billy Gunn doesn’t seem interested in joining this fight. The wrestling veteran recently had an interview with Riju Dasgupta of SportsKeeda.

There are many fans who want a full-blown war between the two promotions and believe that AEW can take WWE down. Talking about the notion, Billy explained that he doesn’t necessarily want to take the rival promotion down:

“Do we really want to take them down? Is it better that we just have competition? I think that’s what made the Attitude Era and the thing with WCW and WWE good is that there was competition. If you don’t have any competition, then I feel, and these are my opinions, I feel that we thrive on competition,”

• Billy Gunn Talks About Triple H’s AEW Comments During Hall Of Fame

Billy Gunn Wants The Competition To Be Natural

Billy Gun explained that taking shots at the other promotion means that they are not focusing on their own product as much as they can:

“The minute we try to start poking the bear or try to say we’re better than them, I feel that we’re not concentrating on the best that AEW can do. Like WWE is always going to be WWE. AEW’s going to be AEW. So let’s just be us. If our paths cross and it becomes something like that, let it happen naturally.”

Billy Gunn has had a number of runs with WWE. His longest tenure started with his debut for the promotion in 1993 and lasted through 2004. The former DX member was hired as a coach by AEW in January 2019. He has since started making TV appearances as well.

A number of main roster stars were sent to NXT for extended runs when the brand started competing with AEW. It turns out, Kevin Owens could have been one of them if Vince McMahon hadn’t changed his mind.

The former Universal champion recently had an interview with TalkSport. He discussed things such as his WrestleMania 37 match against Sami Zayn and more.

Discussing his one-off return to the development brand in 2019, Owens revealed that there were plans for him to have an extended run but the boss nixed them:

“Before I did the War Games return, there were concrete plans for me to go back to NXT for an extended period before coming back to the main roster.

At the time Paul Heyman was in charge on Raw” said Kevin Owens, “and those were just plans we had and Vince [McMahon] had signed off on all of them and, eventually, he changed his mind and nothing happened.”

• Kevin Owens Reveals When He’ll Know It’s Time To Retire

The former NXT champion claimed that it wasn’t something he had floated about. It was a plan they had made before things went in a different direction.

Kevin Owens made a one-night return to NXT during the 2019 WarGames event. He was revealed as the mystery member of Team Ciampa in their fight against the Undisputed Era.

The content creators of UpUpDownDown are apparently unhappy with the way WWE is treating Xavier Woods and they want a better deal for the New Day member.

Only two short-length videos have been posted on the gaming YouTube channel over the course of the past three weeks. This had made fans wonder about behind the scene rift among the minds running the channel.

The content creators have stopped producing videos in a show of solidarity to Woods, according to FightFul.

The creators reportedly feel that WWE is taking advantage of King Xavier and they want company officials to give him a better financial arrangement for the show.

• Xavier Woods Talks About Creative Control Of UpUpDownDown

Xavier Woods started the UpUpDownDown channel by himself in 2015. He later sold it to WWE but he has continued to be the face of the brand.

People involved with the channel believe that the SmackDown star has been the key force behind the growth of the brand and he should be rewarded for that.

Though the report notes that it doesn’t mean the channel is done. Things may return to normal in terms of content production once the situation is ‘rectified.’

There is no word yet on how WWE officials or Woods himself is reacting to the news. We will keep you posted on any development with the story.

Malakai Black has made a number of changes to his character since joining AEW. Though it appears that he hasn’t reached his final form just yet.

The mysterious star recently had an interview with Fulton County Post. He talked about things such as the circumstances leading to his WWE release and more.

Speaking of his AEW persona, Black claimed that fans will get to see a very interesting change in the behavior of his character in the coming two weeks:

“There’s a lot of things that I put into Malakai that I haven’t even shown, the interesting thing is that in the next two weeks you’re going to see a very interesting change within the aesthetics and the behavior of said character.”

• Paul Heyman Had Huge Plans For Malakai Black in WWE

Malakai Black also went into detail of the effort he has put into his current character. He described the various places he has taken inspiration from for his act and detailed the meaning behind the aesthetics of his entrance.

The former WWE star has been feuding with Cody Rhodes since his debut for AEW in July. He has also recently formed an alliance with Andrade El Idolo. We will have to see how the teased character changes affect this partnership.

Xyon Quin is one of the rising stars of the rebranded NXT. He has delivered some impressive performances in recent weeks and he paid tribute to Shawn Michaels with one such performance.

The NXT star had a confrontation with Robert Stone where the two competed to see who can do a better singing and dancing performance.

Quin chose Michaels’ theme song for his act. During a recent interview with SportingNews, he revealed how the people backstage reacted to the segment:

“I got a bit of a standing ovation when I came back through the curtain, so that was pretty cool, it was a group effort, we all came together and had a meeting about it and talked about it.”

Xyon Quin On How Shawn Michaels Reacted To His Performance

Xyon Quin then claimed that it was about bringing something different to the table before revealing how the heartbreak kid himself reacted to it:

“That was a bit interesting. Shawn Michaels was happy with it, he said he forgot how good his song was, so it was pretty cool to hear that from a legend such as himself.”

Xyon also discussed how it feels on having people like Shawn Michaels and Triple H providing guidance. He said that you don’t get used to such an experience and he still has to pinch himself sometimes.

Booker T was one of the selected talents WWE brought in after purchasing WCW. Though according to the wrestling veteran, he never wanted to join the promotion.

The former WCW champion recently had an interview with Notsam Wrestling Podcast. He discussed things such as the failed relaunch of WCW and more.

Discussing the transition from WCW to WWE, Booker claimed that he never actually wanted to go to WWE. He would have rather stayed where he was and finished his career at the defunct promotion:

“No, I never wanted to go to WWE, I would rather have stayed in WCW forever and finished my career out there, but then again, when you get put in a situation, you’ve got to deal with it.

I went from being a kid on the street that got locked up in prison, the first time being in jail. I’m going to tell you right now, if you don’t know how to deal with any situation you’re put in,” said Booker T, “you’re going to find life really, really hard.”

• Booker T Fires Back At Notion That He Was A ‘Cancer’ In TNA

The WWE Hall Of Famer also continued his praise for Nick Gage. He said that many young guys in the business could learn a lot from the hardcore star.

Booker T joined WCW in 1993. He had 4 reigns with the WCW world championship and won over a dozen other titles in the promotion. He made his WWE debut in June 2002.

H/T to WrestlingInc for the transcribed quotes

WWE NXT superstar Zoey Stark has confirmed that she underwent successful surgery for a torn ACL and Meniscus and she is already rehabbing.

The female star provided the health update on Twitter. She explained that she suffered the damage due to the attack from the current NXT women’s tag team champions the Toxic Attraction, before promising to come back stronger:

“Sadly, I tore my ACL/Meniscus due to Toxic’s attack, here’s the bad news for the ‘champs.’ Surgery went great and I’m already rehabbing.” wrote Zoey Stark “I’ll be back BETTER & STRONGER with three targets in mind! Until then @shirai_io @KacyCatanzaro @wwekayden kick their ass tonight!”

The NXT star last competed during the NXT: Halloween Havoc special last month. She was a part of the scareway to hell triple threat ladder match on the show.

Stark and Io Shirai defended the NXT women’s tag team championships on the show. The team of Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne became the new champions after winning the match. Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta were also part of the bout.

There is no word yet on how long the former champion will stay out of action but a successful surgery is good news for her fans. We will keep you posted on her recovery.

Former Universal champion Finn Balor is currently out of action due to some undisclosed issues, according to reports from PWInsider.

The Raw star was expected to compete at the recent WWE live event from Leeds, England on November 9 but he was kept off the show.

The site notes that holding off Balor from competing at the event was a precautionary decision from the officials for what is believed to be a ‘minor issue’.

The former NXT champion was supposed to face Sheamus on the show. These two faced off at a live event the night prior as well.

Before Sheamus, Finn Balor had been working in fatal four-way bouts alongside competitors such as Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, and the current US champion Damian Priest on live events.

• Finn Balor On Potential WrestleMania Match With John Cena

The former champion is expected to compete at the upcoming Survivor Series PPV. He is announced as part of the Raw team for the traditional elimination match.

There is no word on the exact issue Finn Balor is facing. So it’s hard to say how long he will stay out of action or if his issues can affect the match at the upcoming PPV. We will keep you posted on his status.

One important aspect of maintaining the performers’ well-being for any company is taking care of their mental health. Ethan Page says AEW goes a step further to make sure all their performers are in good mental shape.

The Men of the Year member recently had an interview with DAE On Demand and detailed the length AEW goes to care for its performers.

When asked about the topic of mental health in AEW, Page explained how Tony Khan and company take an extra step to make sure all their talents are safe and satisfied.

“It’s huge, we get emails and have meetings and we have staff that looks after people and will reach out to people,” said Page. “There’s a large amount of people we can use and resources for things like that. AEW is a big family when it comes to the way we treat each other and think about each other.”

Page gave an example of AEW officials making practical practical decisions to keep their stars healthy. He recalled his coffin match against Darby Allin on the July 14 episode of Dynamite.

He got pretty banged up during this physical match. When he got backstage afterwards, Tony Khan was waiting for to greet him. The AEW president shook his hand when he got to the back and gave him a week off to recover from the gruesome bout.

Ethan Page will be in action this Saturday at AEW Full Gear. The Men of the Year and Dan Lambert’s American Top Team faction will battle the Inner Circle in a Minneapolis Street Fight.

H/T to Fightful for the transcribed quotes

Gable Steveson is already creating a buzz in the pro wrestling world after being drafted to Raw. Bobby Lashley has some useful advice for the Olympic gold medallist.

The former WWE champion recently spoke to Planeta Wrestling. He discussed things such as the upcoming Survivor Series PPV, WWE’s Spain tour, and more.

Speaking of Steveson’s career so far, Lashley said that he has shattered everything. The All-Mighty then also revealed that the amateur wrestling star called him for advice recently and detailed what he told him:

“I told that kid because he called me a little while back and he asked me for some advice, and I was like, ‘Keep your head on, don’t get into any trouble, keep training the same way you do and you’re going to be a very wealthy man.'”

You can check out Bobby Lashley’s chat with Planeta Wrestling here:

Bobby Lashley doesn’t have a match at the Survivor Series PPV as of yet. We will have to see if he gets involved in any fight at the PPV.

WWE officially drafted Gable Steveson to the Raw brand during the draft last month. Though he is expected to finish up his stint at the University of Minnesota before making a transition to WWE.

• Bobby Lashley Says He Stayed In His Lane After Hurt Business Split

Tony Nese has been making headlines recently after debuting for All Elite Wrestling and he already has an idea on how he wants to differentiate his AEW character from his WWE persona. The former champion was recently a guest on Insight with Chris Van Vliet. He discussed things such as getting released from WWE and more.

Discussing the ideas he has for his AEW persona, Nese said that he will continue being the premier athlete but he wants to play a character that is a little bit more serious:

“So the Premier Athlete is still going to be who I am and what I represent, but I do want it to be a little bit more of a serious thing rather than ‘Hey look at my abs.’ I love being booed and flexing, but at the same time, I switched up my look to where I am wearing more branded stuff.”

• Update on Tony Nese’s Status With AEW

What Vince McMahon Said About Tony Nese’s Gear

Tony Nese continued his explanation mentioning how in WWE he was just trying to get a pop with his gear that looked good. He also recalled an interesting remark from Vince McMahon about one of his attires:

“In WWE, I was just trying to pop by getting gear that just looked good. I wore a jacket because they told me I needed something up top. They said ‘You should wear something, but don’t cover up anything.’

For 1 show I wore a He-Man type thing, but nobody thought it looked cool, Vince said ‘Is he wearing a bra out there?’ Straight after I heard that, I threw it into the garbage.”

Tony Nese claimed that he wants to be taken more seriously in AEW. He wants to be his own brand though he will still be kissing his biceps and continue flexing. The former WWE star made his first appearance for AEW during the October 23 episode of Dynamite. He has since made his in-ring debut for the company as well.

H/T to WrestleZone for the transcribed quotes

It’s common knowledge that WWE wanted to introduce Jon Moxley on the main roster through a feud with Mick Foley before the idea for The Shield was formed. Though the former Dean Ambrose believes that it’s actually better that this dream match never happened because officials would have not given him the freedom that he desired.

The former AEW world champion talked about this during a recent interview with Wrestling Observer. He explained why it’s better that the bout remains a dream match:

“In retrospect it’s actually better that me and Foley just remains a total dream match feud. If 90s Mick Foley and current or maybe a decade ago version of me if you do [a feud] with Mick Foley. For sure that would be the s**t. That’s some dream match s**t.

But at that exact time what would have actually happened was I would have come to the building and I would have had it all in my head exactly what I wanted to say. And I would have the promo in my head and the angle in my head and I would have had it all ready. It would have been very cemented in my head then they would have handed me a script.”

• Mick Foley Says Jon Moxley & Nick Gage Are Carrying The Torch He Lit With Terry Funk

Jon Moxley On How He Would Have Reacted To A Script

Mox explained how he wasn’t accustomed to working with a script at the time. So he would have reacted very poorly to it and be deemed hard to work with as a result:

“At this time I didn’t know there were scripts. I would have not reacted very good. I would have reacted poorly to say the least to being handed a script, and then I would have been deemed hard to work with and a bad attitude and yada yada. It would have all just probably gone to s**t.”

Jon Moxley then discussed how the two could have had a great feud if they ever crossed paths outside of WWE. According to him, it would have been a money-making match. Moxley made his main roster debut as part of the Shield during the 2012 Survivor Series PPV. You can check out his comments below:

The former IIconics have not only found new names for themselves in Jessica McKay and Cassie Lee but they have changed the name of their team to The IInspiration.

The duo appeared on Impact Press Pass with Gail Kim prior to their Impact debut at Bound For Glory. Among other things, they also revealed where they got the inspiration for their new name.

Jessica McKay gave props to Lee for coming up with the idea, revealing that the former WWE star came up with it after watching the classic movie Bring It On:

“Cassie, I will give props to her. She came up with The IInspiration from ‘Bring It On’ classic film that we’ve all seen a million times. They call themselves inspiration leaders, and she loved that and told me about it. And I was like, that’s amazing.

And it just stuck. It felt like us. And it’s so crazy. Now we say the word inspire 100 times a day, and I never knew that. Of course, now we’re saying the word all the time. So it definitely fits for us.”

The IInspiration was released from WWE back in April this year. They made their Impact Wrestling debut during the Bound For Glory event this past weekend.

The debuting duo challenged Decay for the Impact Knockouts tag team titles on the show and won the championships in their first match for the promotion.

• Watch The IInspiration Make Their Impact Debut At Bound For Glory

H/T to WrestleZone for the transcribed quotes

Rey Mysterio was considering hanging his boots for good and ending his three-decade long run as a professional wrestler before his son Dominik made his wrestling debut.

The wrestling legend recently spoke to Scott Fishman of TV Insider where he discussed a number of things. During the interview, he also revealed that he was thinking about hanging up the mask before Dominik stepped in the ring:

“Before my son even stepped in the ring I thought maybe it was time to hang up the mask.” said Mysterio, “Having my son kick off his career gave me a moment of renewal. It was a rebirth.”

• Dominik Mysterio Comments On Potential Match With Rey Mysterio

The former world champion explained that he sees his younger self in his son. According to him, Dominik has reminded him of his passion for wrestling and inspired him to stay in the industry:

“I thought I was losing my passion in 2019 and that my career was coming to an end. My son was able to boost my energy and help me keep going.”

When asked how he is able to maintain the high flying style fans have come to know him for, Rey Mysterio said that it’s the passion for the sport that keeps him going.

The master of 619 made his return to WWE programming during the 2018 Royal Rumble in January and became a regular roster member in October. Dominik made his in-ring debut for the company during the SummerSlam 2020 event.

Mercedes Martinez made her AEW debut in 2019 and a lot of fans believed that she would sign with the promotion. Though people were left surprised when she joined the WWE roster instead.

The former WWE star recently had an interview with Bell To Belles. Among other thing, she also explained why she didn’t sign a contract with All Elite Wrestling.

Martinez admitted that she was in touch with the AEW officials. Though the female star revealed that despite the belief, the promotion never offered her a contract:

“There was no contract offer. Yes, I mean, if you want to straight shoot, we can straight shoot. People think there was [a contract offer], but there wasn’t, we were in talks, you know?”

Mercedes Martinez On Why She Signed With WWE

Mercedes Martinez continued by mentioning how she talked to Cody and Brandi Rhodes and let them know that WWE was offering her a deal. When she didn’t get a response, she took the offer from the rival promotion:

“We talked and I told her, ‘WWE is knocking at my door, so if there is an offer to be made, it has to be done now because if this is the only offer on the table, with me being close to 40, I need to take something,

Because my legacy has to end at some point. And after that, there was nothing, so I took the contract with WWE, negotiated with what we needed to do, and I was very happy with what they offered.”

Mercedes Martinez made her AEW debut as the Joker in the second Casino Battle Royale at the All Out 2019 PPV. She made another appearance for the promotion during a dark episode, before signing with WWE in January 2020.

Apart from this, the former NXT star discussed being put in the Retribution faction. She explained why she chose to leave the main roster stable and went back to NXT.

H/T to WrestlingInc for the transcribed quotes

The latest WWE SmackDown tapings from Wilkes-Barre, PA had a couple of interesting pre-show dark matches, including a bout featuring the members of the Diamond Mine NXT stable.

The first match of the night saw Raquel Gonzalez facing Toni Storm in a singles bout. This former NXT women’s champion won this fight after pinning Storm.

The second dark match of the evening saw Brutus Creed and Juliuis Creed collectively known as the Creed Brothers facing The Viking Raiders in a tag team bout.

Creed Brothers did not have their manager Malcolm Bivens at their side but the duo did use the graphic and music of The Diamond Mine for their entrance. Viking Raiders won this bout.

Raquel Gonzalez signed with WWE back in 2016. She competed in the inaugural Mae Young Classic tournament under the ring name Reina González. The female star made her NXT TV debut with her current name in February last year.

She went on to win the NXT women’s title in April this year. Raquel held the title until this week where she dropped the belt to Mandy Rose during the NXT: Halloween Havoc special on October 26.

Brutus and Juliuis were signed by WWE at different times. They made their debut as the Creed Brothers in June this year. They joined the Diamond Mine in September.

Big E and the New Day have broken the stereotype of African American wrestlers and made a unique place for themselves not only in the WWE roster but the wrestling world in general. The WWE champion had an interview with Breakfast Club Power 101.5 FM. He opened up about what it means for him to be a successful WWE star.

The New Day member was asked if he has dealt with any racism in WWE. Replying to it, E said that he hasn’t before explaining that as far as their representation on TV goes, they are getting where they need to be:

“In WWE, no, honest I haven’t. I will say, as far as our representation on TV we are getting to where we need to be. It’s always a work in progress. Often times if there are issues it would present themselves as, people see you a certain way and they want you to, as a character go, ‘oh you’re a big black man,’ so this is the role you need to play.”

Big E On Breaking The Stereotype For Talent of Color

Big E also discussed how it has been important for the New Day to be themselves on TV. He mentioned how in the wrestling industry talent of color are often put in certain boxes such as being a rapper or dancer. With the presentation of their group, they wanted to show people that they can be unique:

“The three of us are nerds, we are comic book nerds so we wanted to really just be ourselves. I think too often, in our industry you would see talent of color put in certain boxes like you have to be a rapper or dancers. We came out with bright colors, just doing silly stuff and the response, at first was rocky, but we just wanted to show people you can be yourselves, you can be unique, and still be proudly black.”

Big E said that their goal with the New Day has been to tear down those boxes so people don’t see black performers in a specific way. He then gave the example of Bianca Belair as someone who is doing the same.

H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcribed quotes

Tony Khan apparently wanted to bring in former WCW star and pro wrestling veteran Ultimo Dragon for an appearance during the early days of All Elite Wrestling.

Both the Japanese wrestling star and his WCW manager Sonny Onoo recently made an appearance on Perched on the Top Rope podcast where they talked about a number of different things.

During the talk, Onoo revealed that the AEW president had inquired about booking Ultimo Dragon for an AEW show before the promotion made its debut on TNT:

“Before the AEW started on Turner network, I did get a call directly from Tony Khan. I spoke with him, and he wanted to have Ultimo Dragon on the show or one of their promotional shows in Florida,

I forget the name of it, but it was a computer convention type of show. He wanted to know what the details were, but briefly, what I can tell; it was a one-time shot,”

• Tony Khan Doesn’t Want To Make These Mistakes Made by WCW

Explaining why the appearance didn’t happen, Sonny Onoo revealed that the former WCW star was getting ready to go back to Japan for Dragon Gate. The AEW appearance conflicted with his schedule.

Tony Khan has brought in a number of former WCW stars for various AEW appearances since the inception of the company. The list includes names such as Juventud Guerrera and more.

H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcribed quotes

Former Impact Wrestling X Division champion Petey Williams was backstage for this week’s episode of SmackDown from Wikes-Barre, PA.

According to PWInsider, the Impact wrestling star was in the arena getting tryout as a producer for the company. It’s a role he has been working in for Impact recently.

Petey Williams has spent the majority of his career working for Impact Wrestling after making his debut in 2004. He worked as a producer for the Bound For Glory PPV this past weekend and the subsequent Impact tapings.

Though the former champion wasn’t the only interesting name backstage for the Friday night show. Both former WWE star Jimmy Wang Yang and NXT coach Steve Corino were also present for the episode.

The report confirms the suspicion that Wang Yang is also receiving a tryout as a producer after it was initially revealed that he was backstage for Raw this past week.

Corino, on the other hand, has been with WWE since 2017. He left his position as a ROH announcer back then to work with WWE as a performance center coach and producer.

There is no word yet on if this was a one-time appearance or if the former ROH star has been brought up to the main roster to work as a producer full time.