In recent weeks, Kevin Owens has been saying a lot of things that are sure to piss off “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Owens and the Texas Rattlesnake are believed to be facing off at WrestleMania this year, and Owens has been saying a lot of things that could be paving the way for Austin’s return.

Owen’s has been antagonizing all of Texas in recent promos. With Texas both being Austin’s home state and the host of WrestleMania this year, it seems as though WWE has already started building the angle between the two of them.

He recently took a specific jab at Victoria, Texas. Austin spent much of his childhood living in Edna, Texas, a small town about 30 minutes away from Victoria.

Steve Austin has been known to drink a few “Steveweisers” in his day. Granted, he does seem to spill a lot of beer when he drinks them. Still, his association with beer is well-established. Kevin Owens recently let it be known that he is not a fan of beer.

Austin may have to return in order to defend beer’s good name. Owens has also been using the Stunner in recent years. That could play into the rivalry between him and Austin as well.

Owens also took a shot at Dallas, Texas recently.

On Friday, February 25th, Kevin Owens reflected upon his main roster debut. Owens defeated then-United States champion John Cena at Elimination Chamber. Owens says it was an unforgettable moment, but wishes it took place anywhere but Texas.

At some point, a beer loving wrestler from Texas might just have to give Owens his comeuppance.

At Impact Wrestling’s No Surrender PPV over the weekend, Jay White and Chris Bey turned on the Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) and helped The Good Brothers retain the Impact Tag Team Championships. Impact Wrestling recently posted a backstage interview with Jay White, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, and Chris Bey.

“I said that I was going to create the best version of Bullet Club across New Japan Pro Wrestling, AEW, and Impact. I also said that the best tag team in the history of Bullet Club was going to walk away the Impact tag team champions and I was right,” White said during the interview.

“Listen, there ain’t no Bullet Club if the Machine Gun and the Big LG ain’t in it,” Anderson then said. “This right here, like I said since Day 1, since May 3rd of 2013, Bullet Club is 4-life.”

“There was no better place for the Bullet Club to reunite and become one again than here in New Orleans, Louisiana,” Gallows added.

The 4 then gave each other the 2 sweet hand signal, but White said there would be no more throwing the hand signal low as the group had been doing recently.

Following the angle in Impact Wrestling, there was also some tension teased between El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori on a recent NJPW card. The two had a bit of a disagreement regarding the tag match they were in. Jado also expressed to the commentary team that he had no idea White was going to do what he did. Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa will be back in Japan next month for the New Japan Cup. Jay White will not be back in Japan for the tournament, however.

Bryan Danielson was a guest recently on Throwing Down with Renee Paquette and Meisha Tate. Paquette just so happens to be the spouse of Jon Moxley, who Danielson has asked to team with him in AEW. Right off the bat, Paquette asked Danielson why he wanted to team with her husband so badly.

“Because these kids today… these kids need to learn how to properly wrestle,” Danielson responded to Paquette.

“Look, AEW is great, it’s not perfect in the way that I would like it to be and I’m sure in the way that Jon would like it to be. There’s a little bit too much fooling around.”

“Jon and I, we don’t wrestle the same stye but we wrestle with the same sort of seriousness. That’s what I think we bring to the table and teaching that to the younger generation.”

Danielson then continued to talk about some of the younger wrestlers in AEW. He specifically mentioned TNT Champion, Sammy Guevara.

“He has this vlog, which I didn’t even understand what a vlog was, it sounds like something to do with poop. He started trying to get me on his vlog…”

“He focuses so much on his vlog and so much on all this other stuff as opposed to just focusing on beating the crap out of somebody, which me and your husband do quite well.”

“Jon Moxley is more of like a brutalist style of violence where I’m more like the poet laureate of violence,” Danielson continued.

You can listen to Bryan Danielson’s appearance on Throwing Down here:

If you use any of the above transcriptions please credit Throwing Down with a H/T to SEScoops for the transcriptions.

Jake “the Snake” Roberts says he no longer requires the use of an oxygen tank. Roberts gave a health update recently on his podcast along with Diamond Dallas Page.

“Genetics being what they are, my mother had two lung diseases that she passed on to me. There’s no cure for either one of them,” Roberts said.

“The last thing I should ever do is smoke a cigarette, and yet I’ve been smoking since I was 17, to the point that I have COPD and a little emphysema tossed in,” he continued.

Roberts noted that his conditions left him vulnerable to COVID-19. He got full vaccinated as quickly as he could, however. Roberts also recently recovered after having contracted the virus.

“Today, I feel great. I don’t have to use any oxygen at all. I do have to use it on the airplanes when they pressurize and go up high, but it’s something that can be dealt with. I can still live a great life.”

Roberts has been back to accompanying Lance Archer to the ring for his matches. He continued to say that while he’ll never be able to run a marathon (and never was able to in the first place), he’s still got everything he needs to have a great life.

H/T To Wrestling Inc. for the above transcriptions.

On last night’s edition of WWE RAW, Paul Heyman noted that Brock Lesnar will have to defend his WWE Championship on March 5th inside Madison Square Garden. WWE has been having difficulty selling tickets to the event, as they did for the show they held from the venue on December 26th.

As of this writing, WWE has sold 60 less tickets for the show on March 5th than they did for the show on December 26th. According to @WrestleTix, the show has sold 5,316 tickets thus far.

The final tally for the December 26th show from Madison Square Garden had 5,376 tickets sold.

According to attendance figures from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, up until 2019, WWE averaged 13,000 to 14,000 for its annual holiday show in Madison Square Garden. The 2019 show dipped to 10,795, however. Due to the pandemic, no show was held in 2020. The 2021 holiday show was hurt by the wave of the omicron variant and only sold a little over 5300 tickets.

WWE held an episode of Smackdown from Madison Square Garden on September 10th, 2021 that drew 13,323 paid fans, however.

WWE currently has Brock Lesnar, Bobby Lashley, Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey advertised for the March 5th show. On last night’s RAW, Paul Heyman noted that if Bobby Lashley is unable to compete at MSG, a suitable replacement will be found for Brock’s opponent.

The Undertaker will take his rightful place in the WWE Hall of Fame during WrestleMania 38 weekend.

Bully Ray, a Hall of Famer himself, feels that Taker is such a significant figure in WWE history that he should be the only person inducted this year.

“That’s how big of a deal The Undertaker being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame is. It’s like, how do you pick just one person to induct him? There are so many people that can do a phenomenal job of inducting him,” said Bully Ray on Busted Open Radio.

“Why not bring in everybody up there? I am a fan of the Hall of Fame induction behind the night after SmackDown. As a fan, you’re getting a lot of value, you’re getting value for your buck.”

WWE Hall of Fame Solo Inductions

A solo induction would be a grand gesture fitting of The Undertaker’s incomparable legacy. It seems unlikely WWE will go that route this year, but there is precedent for it happening.

The WWE Hall of Fame was inducted in 1993. Andre The Giant was the sole inductee that year. He was inducted posthumously after passing away January 27th, 1993.

The Undertaker Joining the WWE Hall of Fame

The 2022 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place Friday, April 1st. The ceremony will stream on Peacock at 10pm (EST) following WWE SmackDown.

The Undertaker commented on his forthcoming induction on social media. He thanked everyone for reaching out to congratulate him.

Eric Bischoff is not shocked about Cody Rhodes’ decision to leave All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

During the latest episode of his 83 Weeks podcast with Conrad Thompson, Bischoff divulged that he keeps in touch with Cody via texting. Cody’s AEW departure sent shockwaves throughout the industry, but Bischoff says he was more surprised about Cody leaving WWE back in 2016.

“I’m not surprised – not nearly as surprised as everybody else is, and it’s not because I have any inside information or speak to Cody,” he began. “Cody and I text back and forth every couple of months maybe,” Bischoff said. “Look, I was more surprised that Cody left WWE.”

Bischoff continued by laying out why jumping back to WWE makes total sense for someone in Cody Rhodes’ position.

“Let’s think about that for a minute. You’re 30 years old and on the biggest stage in the world in your particular industry. Yeah, you might be saddled with a character or gimmick you don’t like, but guess what? You’re making damn good money that you could probably retire on in five to ten years if you’re smart. But he was willing to walk away from that because he wasn’t satisfied. It reminded me of his dad.”

You can listen to Eric Bischoff’s comments about Cody Rhodes leaving AEW in the tweet embedded below:

Bischoff also recalled speaking with Cody shortly after he left WWE. Bischoff assured Cody his father would be proud of him, since Dusty was never satisfied and always seeking something bigger.

WWE made several references to Cody Rhodes’ pending return on Monday’s Raw. The Miz referred to his surprise partner as being from a “fighting family” and also “Dashing.”

Cody Rhodes is widely believed to be returning to WWE shortly. WWE dropped multiple hints recently likely meant to foreshadow his return to the company on last night’s RAW.

Before last night’s show, The Miz Tweeted out that everyone is going to be really surprised by who he brings with him to RAW. Then during Miz TV, he referred to this person as being from a “fighting family” and also as “Dashing.” Then Logan Paul came out, however.

Rhodes was at one point referred to as “Dashing” Cody Rhodes for a period during his previous WWE run.

Cody Rhodes’ old theme music in WWE was named “Smoke and Mirrors.” WWE then used the term “Smoke and Mirrors” when referring to Edge.

Cody Rhodes is a former 2x Intercontinental Champion in WWE. He also held tag team gold in the company 6x, twice with Ted DiBiase Jr., twice with Goldust, once with Drew McIntyre, and once with Hardcore Holly. Rhodes’ 257 days spent with the Intercontinental title split amongst two reigns ranks him 23rd out of 87 all-time in that category. He is also a former NWA World Heavyweight Champion, ROH World Champion, and 3x TNT Champion.

Rhodes was also awarded “Worst Gimmick” from the readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 2015 for his Stardust character.

The National Wrestling Alliance is bringing back the Crockett Cup next month. The promotion last held the tournament in 2019. They announced the brackets for the single-elimination tournament recently in a video posted to their YouTube channel.

1st Round

1. #1 NWA Tag Team Champions La Rebelión (Bestia 666 and Mecha Wolf) vs #16 TBD
2. #8 The End (Parrow & Odinson) vs. #9 Hawk Aerie (PJ and Luke)
3. #5 Strictly Business (Thom Latimer & Chris Adonis) vs. #12 Gold Rushhh (Jordan Clearwater & Marshe Rockett)
4. #4 British Invasion (Doug Williams and TBA) vs. The Ill Begotten (Alex Taylor, Captain YUMA, Jeremiah Plunkett, and/or Rush Freeman)
5. #3 The OGK (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) vs. #14 The Fixers (Jay Bradley & Wrecking Ball Legursky)
6. #6 Da Pope & Mims vs. #11 The Cardonas (Mike Knox & VSK)
7. #7 Aron Stevens & JR Kratos vs. #10 Dirty Sexy Boys (JTG and Dirty Dango)
8. #2 The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. #15 TBA

Quarter-Finals

1. Winner of 1st round Match #1 vs Winner of 1st round Match #2
2. Winner of 1st round Match #3 vs Winner of 1st round Match #4
3. Winner of 1st round Match #5 vs Winner of 1st round Match #6
4. Winner of 1st round Match #7 vs Winner of 1st round Match #8

Semi-Finals

1. Winner of Quarter Final Match #1 vs Winner of Quarter Final Match #2
2. Winner of Quarter Final Match #3 vs Winner of Quarter Final Match #4

Also booked for the show is Matt Cardona defending his newly won NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Nick Aldis.

Jessica Eye has said she would like to wrestle for All Elite Wrestling. The Xtreme Couture fighter is scheduled to face Manon Fiorot at UFC 272 on March 5th but took to Twitter to express that her future might be in pro-wrestling.

Perhaps if Eye is considering wrestling in AEW she may want to jump ship to Dan Lambert’s American Top Team, who have been featured on AEW programming as of late.

This is not the first time Eye has expressed an interest in pro-wrestling. Back in 2018, she made an appearance at Cleveland Knights Championship Wrestling’s “New World Rising” event.

Not long after her appearance, she tagged WWE in an article about it.

Eye holds a career 15-10 record but has dropped 4 of her last 5 fights and is on a 3-fight losing skid. She dropped a unanimous decision on July 10th, 2021 to Jennifer Maia in her last fight.

She’ll be making quite the comeback after a lengthy illness that left her hospitalized back in October.

“TBT OCT 19th 2021: a 5 days stay in Summerlin LV hospital battling Sepsis and Ecoli. One of the worse sickness I have EVER faced and more deadly then what I knew or understood. I am thankful for those who looked after me that week,” she posted recently.

Ring of Honor has announced the final wrestler to be inducted into the promotion’s inaugural Hall of Fame class. CM Punk joins Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, and Mark and Jay Briscoe as the first inductees.

Punk is a 1x ROH World Champion, having held the title June 18th, 2005 until August 12th, 2005. He also twice held the promotion’s tag-team titles along with Colt Cabana.

News on Samoa Joe’s, Bryan Danielson’s, and the Briscoes’ Hall of Fame inductions is below.

Samoa Joe To Be Inducted Into ROH Hall of Fame

Ring of Honor announced today that Samoa Joe will be inducted into the company’s Hall of Fame. Joe joins Bryan Danielson and the Briscoes in the inaugural class of wrestlers to be inducted. The final inductee will be announced next week.

“Ring of Honor is proud to welcome Samoa Joe, the most dominant ROH World Champion in history, into the inaugural class of the ROH Hall of Fame,” ROH wrote. “From the first time he stepped into an ROH ring in 2002, Joe proved to be an intimidating force whose hard-hitting offense, intensity and relentlessness made him one of the sport’s most dangerous competitors.”

Joe was the 3rd ever ROH World Champion. He held the title for a record 645 days until dropping it to Austin Aries at Final Battle 2004. Joe would then win the ROH Pure Championship in May of 2005. He held that title for 112 days and 6 title defenses before dropping it to Nigel McGuiness.

Ring of Honor returns to live events on April 1st from the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas for Supercard of Honor XV. The only match announced thus far is Jonathan Gresham vs Bandido for the undisputed ROH World Championship.

Bryan Danielson To Be Inducted Into ROH Hall of Fame

Bryan Danielson has been announced as the next member of Ring of Honor Hall of Fame’s inaugural Class of 2022.

Danielson is considered a “founding father” of Ring of Honor. He wrestled for the promotion from its inception. He competed in the main event of the first ROH event, Era of Honor Begins. He defeated Low Ki and Christopher Daniels, setting the stage for what would be a very memorable run.

Danielson held the ROH World Championship from September 2005 to December 2006. He defended the title a record 38 times and had one of the longest ROH World title reigns in history.

Ring of Honor has referred to Danielson as “the embodiment of fighting spirit and technical wrestling excellence.”

The Briscoes Announced As First Inductees Into ROH Hall of Fame

The first inductees into the inaugural ROH Hall of Fame class are Jay and Mark, The Briscoe Brothers.

As announced on February 4th, “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson is also part of the ROH Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022.

Additional inductees will be announced on February 14th and 21st.

Ring of Honor will be rolling out new content to highlight the ROH Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022. Each episode of ROH TV in February will be devoted to a Hall of Fame inductee.

There will also be weekly YouTube specials focusing on these talented athletes.

For more information, visit ROHWrestling.com.

• ROH SuperCard of Honor Announced for WrestleMania 38 Weekend

An angle with implications for NJPW and AEW took place Saturday night on Impact Wrestling’s No Surrender PPV. The Guerrillas of Destiny were challenging the Good Brothers for the Impact World Tag Team Championships when Chris Bey came to ringside. His distraction seemed to irritate both Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa. Then, Jay White appeared and gave a Blade Runner to Tama, leading to Anderson and Gallows retaining.

After the match, it was made clear that White had kicked the GOD out of Bullet Club and welcomed Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows back into it.

Following these events, Jay White tagged the Young Bucks in a post featuring highlights of his Blade Runner to Tama Tonga.

The Young Bucks then changed their bio to read, “Never really cared for Tama anyway tbh ?”

Karl Anderson commented on the Young Bucks bio as well.

Tama Tonga then responded to the Young Bucks on Twitter.

There are implications for the angle in AEW as well. In storyline, Adam Cole brought White into the promotion recently. The Young Bucks and the Good Brothers had previously been aligned along with Kenny Omega as members of the Elite in both Impact and AEW last year. This angle is essentially taking place in 3 different promotions.

One day after the eventful No Surrender PPV, Impact Wrestling taped two episodes of its weekly programming from the Alario Center in Westwego, Louisiana, USA.

According to a report from PW Insider, here is what took place on the show:

1. Gisele Shaw defeated “Local Talent”
2. Ace Austin & “Speedball” Mike Bailey defeated Trey Miguel and Jake Something. (Something and Miguel will face off for the X-Division title soon and Austin and Bailey are running an angle where Austin wants them to be aligned but Bailey’s not too sure about it.)
3. Heath interrupted a Moose promo and demanded a title shot. They brawled with Heath getting the better of it and holding up the title in the end. So, that looks to be where the world title picture is headed for the next bit.
4. Brian Myers defeated Crazzy Steve w/Decay
5. Digital Media Championship
   No Disqualification
   Matt Cardona (c) defeated Jordynne Grace (Grace was DQ’ed in their match at No Surrender)
6. Masha Slamovich defeated Rachel Rose
7. Bhupinder Gujjar defeated John Skyler (Brian Myers was on commentary, when W. Morrissey came out and attacked him. Skyler tried to make the save but then got put through a table for his efforts.)
8. ROH Women’s Championship/Reina de Reinas Championship Open Challenge
   Deonna Purrazzo defeated Lady Frost (after the match, Gisele Shaw came out and got into Frost’s face.)
9. JONAH defeated Zicky Dice
10. Honor No More (Matt Taven, Mike Bennett and Kenny King) defeated Rich Swann, Willie Mack and Chris Sabin (Eddie Edwards cut a promo after the match about why he aligned with Honor No More at No Surrender. Alisha Edwards came out and asked why he would turn his back on his family. Edwards said Honor No More is his family and Alisha needs to decide if she still has one.)
11. Cassie Lee defeated Madison Rayne
12. Tasha Steelz defeated Chelsea Green (Mickie James was on commentary)
13. JONAH defeated Johnny Swinger (PCO came out after and confronted JONAH. That sounds like a fun match!)
14. Steve Maclin defeated Eddie Edwards via disqualification.
15. Heath defeated Vincent (Both Honor No More and several Impact talents brawled after. Heath took out Moose again during this.)
16. No Disqualification
    Bullet Club (The Good Brothers & Chris Bey & Jay White) defeated The Guerrilla of Destiny & Violent by Design (with Eric Young). Tanga Loa cut a promo after saying he’s coming for Jay White stemming from the betrayal at No Surrender.

New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced the brackets for this year’s New Japan Cup tournament. 48 wrestlers will take part in the tournament this year. The brackets are below:

Top Left Side of Brackets:

1. Kazuchika Okada vs El Desperado
2. Master Wato receives bye to 2nd round.
3. Toru Yano vs Taichi
4. Hiroyoshi Tenzan receives bye to 2nd round.
5. Yuji Nagata vs Hirooki Goto
6. Dick Togo receives bye to 2nd round.
7. CIMA vs Taka Michinoku
8. Yoshinobu Kanemaru receives bye to 2nd round.

Bottom Left Side of Brackets:

1. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Yoh
2. Bad Luck Fale receives bye to 2nd round.
3. Tetsuya Naito vs Yujiro Takahashi
4. Gedo receives bye to 2nd round.
5. Togi Makabe vs Jeff Cobb
6. Satoshi Kojima receives bye to 2nd round.
7. Tomoaki Honma vs Yoshi-Hashi
8. Kosei Fujita receives bye to 2nd round.

Top Right Side of Brackets:

1. Kota Ibushi vs Great-O-Khan
2. Taiji Ishimori receives bye to 2nd round.
3. Ryohei Oiwa vs Zack Sabre Jr.
4. Douki receives bye to 2nd round.
5. Yuto Nakashima vs Aaron Henare
6. Sanada receives bye to 2nd round.
7. Bushi vs Will Ospreay
8. El Phantasmo receives bye to 2nd round.

Bottom Right Side of Brackets

1. Tomohiro Ishii vs Shingo Takagi
2. Tanga Loa receives bye to 2nd round.
3. Chase Owens vs Jado
4. Tiger Mask receives bye to 2nd round.
5. Ryusuke Taguchi vs Evil
6. Tama Tonga receives bye to 2nd round.
7. Hiromu Takahashi vs Sho
8. Minoru Suzuki receives bye to 2nd round.

1st round matches will take place March 2nd, 6th, and 7th. 2nd round will take place March 9, 10, 12, and 13. 3rd round will take place March 14, 15, 17, 18. Quarter-Finals will be held on March 20 and 21. Semi-finals will take place on March 26th and the finals will be held on March 27th.

Shane Strickland says he lost motivation for his main roster run in WWE following his Hit Row stablemate B-Fab’s release. He made the below comments during an appearance on the Wrestling Classic podcast.

“Truth be told, after Briana [Brandy] got let go, it kind of, for me, I kind of lost the interest anyway. I’m a person that’s 100 percent go or not so they’re not 100 percent behind me, it’s like, okay, I can’t be 100 percent behind this project,” Strickland said on the project.

It was reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that there is interest from AEW in bringing Strickland in. He’s also been booked on 2 shows for GCW in April. He made his NJPW recently by answering Jay White’s Open Challenge.

“WWE is gonna WWE,” Strickland continued. “They’re gonna do what they do. They have what they want and they’re happy with what they got. I’m not necessarily happy with what I’m noticing with the product change but they’re happy with it. It’s their money, it’s their product.”

The members of Hit Row will reunite on March 19th on a show for MCW.

H/T To WrestlingNewsCO for the above transcriptions.

Kenny Omega spoke about Cody Rhodes’ departure from AEW on a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio. During the discussion, Omega noted that perhaps Cody’s idea of what AEW would be was different from Tony Khan’s and different from what Omega and the Young Bucks envisioned.

“When this thing (AEW) first started, the most passionate person of our revolution, the most passionate person of creating an ‘us vs. them’ mentality, that was Cody. It was strange for him to just choose to up and walk away,” Omega said. “However, that being said, feelings change. The environment around you is ever-changing.”

Omega continued to say that he thinks Cody had a different vision for AEW than Tony, Omega, and the Young Bucks did.

“Maybe, in the end, we had the Bucks and their vision, my vision, and Cody’s vision. All of our visions are different. I would say mine was more similar to what the Bucks had envisioned and Cody’s was much different,” Omega continued.

Kenny Omega On Cody Rhodes’ Departure From AEW

Omega also said that he enjoys a good professional relationship with Cody. He’s not a guy he hangs out with on his off time, however. Omega also said that Cody was more prone to wanting to go to war with WWE, while the Young Bucks wanted to just present a different product.

“When Cody had his way of going about things, I wasn’t sure how to follow up with that, nor was I interested. There was Kenny doing his thing, the Bucks doing their thing, and the Codyverse over there, doing whatever it is that he does,” Omega continued.

Omega also mentioned that he heard Cody is on a flight to Saudi Arabia, perhaps to officially join WWE.

“I heard he’s (Cody Rhodes) on a flight to Saudi Arabia, if that makes him happy, that makes him happy. Again, the Bucks and I, we weren’t in this for the war. All the guys and gals in WWE doing their thing, always wishing for the best for those guys,” Omega continued.

Kenny Omega was a guest on Wrestling Observer Radio recently and gave an update on his various injuries and potential return to the ring. According to Omega, he had originally hoped to be able to return in February. He noted that he ran into trouble booking appointments for treatments, however, and this caused his return to be pushed back.

“I was hoping to be back by February. It’s not looking that way anymore,” Omega said. “That’s not to say there was a huge snag or something that is terribly wrong, it’s not that. It’s just, trying to get appointments and things fixed.”

Omega noted that he is dealing with a hernia as well as knee and neck issues. Some of his training has been impacted as well by not being able to use his legs as much for cardio.

“The training is going well, once I’m able to try to get the knees fixed, get the neck fixed, the hernia, & all that stuff,” he continued. “Hopefully I’m able to move around much better than I was before & I look like a guy who was doing what he was doing 10 years ago.”a

“The training is going well, once I’m able to try to get the knees fixed, get the neck fixed, the hernia, & all that stuff,

Hopefully I’m able to move around much better than I was before & I look like a guy who was doing what he was doing 10 years ago,”

– Kenny Omega
(via WOR) pic.twitter.com/AwTEOBVzJ0

— WrestlePurists (@WrestlePurists) February 19, 2022

He didn’t provide an updated timeline for his return, however. Omega hasn’t wrestled since dropping the AEW World Championship to Hangman Page at Full Gear back in November.

Tony Khan was on Busted Open Radio today ahead of tonight’s episode of Rampage. During the discussion, he noted that he believes Cody Rhodes has something else in the works that led him to depart AEW.

“I wish them both really well and I appreciate everything they did here in their different roles in the company,” Khan said on the show. “It’s very sad and not something any of us wanted to happen, I think, but I believe that Cody’s got something else in the works, I’m not sure about that, but we’ll see. I’m sure they’re going to have great opportunities in wrestling and in life. You never know what’s going to happen in the future. I wish them the best and am very appreciative of everything they did here.”

Khan also said that he’s working on something big that will likely make headlines starting next week. He noted that it’s not something anyone will expect but it will be a big deal. The deal isn’t quite finalized, however, whatever it may be.

“There will be a lot of news in the week of ahead. I don’t know if I’ll get it done by tonight, but stay tuned in the week ahead, hopefully. I’m working on something pretty big. It would be massive. I don’t know if it’s what anybody would expect or think it is, but it would be a big deal in pro wrestling. I’m looking forward to hopefully making it happen. Stay tuned. I will hopefully get it done and have more to announce soon,” said Khan.

H/T to Fightful for the latter transcription.

Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae welcomed the birth of baby Quill today. It is the couple’s first child (aside from Austin Theory and Indi Hartwell). Judging by the comic books present in the photo they posted, their baby was named after Peter Quill, aka Star Lord, from the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Gargano also noted that LeRae and him attempted to induce labor by walking around a Disney theme park.

“I just wanna say how awe-inspiring @CandiceLeRae has been during this pregnancy.

We were walking around Disney trying to induce labor yesterday..

Stranger: Aw. When’s your due date?
Candice: Today
Stranger: ?

She’s the toughest person I know and is gonna be THE best Mom!”

“I just wanted to completely break free of all that and refresh myself, and especially with a baby coming soon, I wanted to be in the best headspace I possibly could. Not only for Candice but also for the baby.”

Gargano is free to appear for other wrestling promotions at any time. It’s not clear when or where he intends to do that, however.

Cody Rhodes leaving AEW and returning to WWE is reportedly not yet a done deal. According to a report from Fightful, Rhodes has yet to sign with WWE and could still potentially return to the company. It is still expected that he will sign with WWE, however.

It was also noted that the 2nd season of “Rhodes to the Top” on TNT has not been cancelled. Filming for the season has already begun. Rhodes is also a judge on TBS’ “Go Big Show” as well.

Rhodes’ pending departure from AEW was also addressed recently in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer noted that people close to the situation believe that Rhodes was given a big offer by WWE to return to the company. It is also believed that Tony Khan did have the option to renew Rhodes’ contract for 2 more years as part of the 3-year deal they signed in 2019. It is not clear why Khan neglected to do so, however.

“Some close to the situation believed he got such a big offer from WWE after becoming a free agent that he couldn’t turn it down. But there is still the unanswered question of why his contract wasn’t rolled over because legally Khan did have control to prevent this from happening,” Meltzer wrote.

“Both Khan and the Rhodes family had agreed not to comment on the reasons for the split,” he continued.

D-Von Dudley recently posted to Instagram that he is recovering after having had spinal surgery. He had 3 vertebrae that needed to be fused and noted that the doctors found the damage to be greater than originally thought.

D-Von noted that he is a new man and is even able to beat his son in basketball now.

“But God is good and he the DOCTER said I am a new man. I can run, I can jump, I can beat my son Preston in basketball on the basketball court . LOL and racing him down the street lol, he thinks he can beat the old man,” D-Von wrote.

“They also had to shift my spine a little bit with a curve. Because it was a straight line. That was because of all the wrestling. Then again, all of it was because of wrestling.”

He also noted that he was told he cannot wrestle anymore. D-Von hasn’t wrestled since December of 2016.

“I was told I could not wrestle anymore because if I do I could do more damage to my back I would have to have surgery again on the upper part. That’s OK I didn’t have plans On going back in there anyway.I would be in the hospital From Tuesday to Friday from My understanding.”

The 49-year-old was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame’s Class of 2018. He is a 9x WWE Tag-team champion, 1x WCW tag team champion (in WWE), 2x TNA tag team champion, 1x NWA tag team champion, and 8x ECW tag team champion along with Bubba Ray Dudley.

Cody Rhodes recently responded to a fan on Twitter and encouraged them to keep watching AEW. Rhodes has also re-branded his Twitter account back to “Cody Rhodes” after it had been “AEW Community Outreach” for some time.

The fan has since made their account private but they suggested they were not interested in watching AEW anymore now that Rhodes has left.

“I’d encourage you to still watch it – I was very lucky that my hard work led me to be that face, but I wasn’t alone Nick/Matt/Kenny/Chicken/Jericho/MJF/Hang were as well, and all the new girls and guys putting in a shift now as well Wrestling is thriving,” Rhodes Tweeted in response.

Rhodes’ departure from AEW was reported to have been due to concerns over his loss of booking power in the promotion. Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated had the following to say regarding the reasons why Rhodes did not re-sign with AEW.

“While Rhodes was never intended to overstay his welcome in the world title picture, one key factor that led to this exit was losing all responsibilities involving booking. That is a role where (Tony) Khan, who is the head of creative, has taken full rein. Originally, Rhodes was part of that process. As great as Dusty Rhodes was as a performer, his contributions as a booker are an integral part of his legacy. For Rhodes, AEW represented another chance to pay homage to his father as a booker while also further cementing his own legacy. Losing that opportunity in AEW hurt Rhodes more than any loss he suffered in the ring,” Barrasso wrote.

Lio Rush is returning to Major League Wrestling. The promotion announced recently that he will return at Kings of the Coliseum held on May 13th from Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena.

Rush is a former World Middleweight Champion in the promotion. He won the title from Myron Reed in January of 2021. He then dropped it back to Reed in May of the same year.

Rush officially became a free agent earlier this week on February 14th after his AEW deal expired.

Coming Up In MLW

The next card for Major League Wrestling takes place February 26th, 2022 from Charlotte, NC in the Grady Cole Center. The following matches have been announced for the show.

• MLW World Heavyweight Championship
  Alexander Hammerstone (c) vs Davey Richards
• Stairway to Hell Match
  Mads Krugger vs Jacob Fatu
• Killer Kross Returns
• The Von Erichs vs Ricky & Kerry Morton
• Ricky Steamboat serves as match-maker.
• nZo vs KC Navarro
• National Openweight Championship
  Alex Kane vs Calvin Tankman vs Matt Cross vs ACH
• Gino Medina, Mini Abismo Negro, & Ares vs Puma King, Octagon Jr. & TBA

MLW will then be in Gilley’s in Dallas, Texas on March 31st and April 1st, with the latter being an Azteca Underground show.

EC3 has run 2 events on PPV under the name “Free The Narrative” but is now launching a new promotion along with Braun Strowman. Two live events have been booked for March including a show that is scheduled to be a TV special. The promotion says an announcement regarding a television deal is imminent.

The new promotion will be named CYN, standing for “Control Your Narrative”. Their first show will be on March 5th from Orlando. They will then tape a television special from Dallas on Thursday, March 31st before WrestleMania weekend.

In addition to EC3 and Braun Strowman, Killer Kross is signed on to the promotion as well. He will debut on the March 31st show. Matt Cardona, Moose, Matt Sydal, Marina Shafir, Matt Taven, and more have also signed on.

Ticket information is available here.

“Control Your Narrative (CYN) has found it’s “purpose” and is proud to announce “Awakening: Live”, a series of live events featuring combative PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING action and the real stories of those who choose to fight.

Headlined by “The Titan” Adam Scherr, ec3, the newly recruited Killer Kross, and other top names in the field of “sports and entertainment,” reads a description of the promotion.

Jake Atlas has provided an update following the injury he suffered in a match against Adam Cole on January 5th. Although Atlas had originally hoped the injury was not severe, it turns out he suffered a torn ACL that required surgery.

“hi everyone! quick update :) My injury from my match with Adam Cole is, unfortunately, a torn ACL. I’m in good spirits, though. AEW has been extremely supportive throughout & surgery yesterday was a success. I’m disappointed that this occurred so soon after my return to wrestling & joining AEW, BUT I’m not going anywhere. I’m not quitting. I worked diligently with prehab before surgery & I look forward to getting straight to work on rehab now post-surgery so that I can get back in the ring as soon as possible & do what I do best.”

Typical recovery time for athletes to return to action after surgery for a torn ACL is 9 months or between 8 and 12 months.

The injury occurred in Atlas’ second match with the promotion. He debuted on AEW Dark: Elevation in a match taped on December 28th, 2021. Atlas defeated Serpentico on that show. He was released from his WWE contract last summer on August 6th, 2021.