Author: Chris Stephens

Summer Rae made an appearance on WWE Smackdown last night. She’ll also perform in the 2022 Women’s Royal Rumble match on January 29th in St. Louis. She was given a warm response from the live crowd but some fans on social media criticized her being referred to as a legend.

Summer Rae posted a video to social media in response to fans saying she shouldn’t have been called a legend.

“I am seeing so many complaints that WWE called me a legend tonight. I don’t make the rules, y’all. They said what they said,” she said.

Rae also appeared recently on Renee Paquette’s Sessions podcast and spoke about getting the call from WWE to be in the Rumble.

“When they called me about Rumble and stuff, at first they were like, ‘would you be interested? Would you even consider it?’ That was like the second thing that I said, ‘Oh, I’m red-headed now.’ I guess Sasha has every hair color under the world and [Naomi], but I think I look extremely different and some people don’t even recognize me, especially on socials. John Cone was like, ‘Johnny [John Laurinaitis] and I, will bring it up to Vince.’ I remember saying it in front of my sister and she was like, ‘Don’t use it as an excuse.’ ‘It’s not an excuse. I can’t just show up like this and Vince see me and be like who the hell is that?’”

H/T to Fightful for the above transcriptions.

Tommaso Ciampa is showing off a nasty elbow injury.

It’s not clear when or where Ciampa sustained the injury. He’s been wrestling in Smackdown dark matches and on Main Event after losing the NXT Championship to Bron Breakker at New Year’s Evil.

Ciampa posted the following photo on Instagram with the caption, “Considering a new finisher: perhaps an elbow drop”

Tommaso Ciampa in WWE

During a recent interview with Fightful, Ciampa noted that the main roster schedule might be a bit much for him with his history of neck injuries.

“It’s the load. I think people misconstrued it as that I hate RAW or SmackDown. When I talked to her, it was a month or two after I had neck surgery, a neck surgery that could potentially end my career. We were discussing home life. We were discussing road life, and I said, ‘I don’t think I can handle traveling 300 days out of the year.”

Ciampa has wrestled and won four straight matches on the main roster since losing the NXT Championship:

• Defeated Pete Dunne in a dark match at the Smackdown tapings on January 7th, 2022.
• Defeated T-Bar in singles action on the January 10th, 2022 taping of Main Event.
• Defeated Pete Dunne in another Smackdown dark match last week
• Defeated Akira Tozawa on the Main Event tapings this Monday.

SEScoops wishes Tommaso Ciampa a speedy recovery from this elbow injury.

Drew McIntyre is dealing with a neck injury that may cause him to miss WrestleMania 38. According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, he is hopeful that he will be able to return in time for the event.

“Regarding McIntyre, he’s been doing rehab and decompression therapy on his neck. He’s taking the John Cena approach of double sessions six days a week and is pretty insistent he’ll make it back for WrestleMania,” wrote Dave Meltzer.

In storyline, McIntyre was attacked in the back by Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss, which will explain his absence. He had been dealing with a bad neck for several months. It is still not clear if the injury will require surgery or not. The plan is for his neck to be monitored frequently as WrestleMania approaches.

It’s a difficult time for McIntyre to have been removed from the Smackdown roster. Few babyfaces are left to challenge Roman Reigns. Seth Rollins had to be brought in from RAW to take on the Universal Champion at the Royal Rumble.

McIntyre’s last match came at the Day 1 PPV where he defeated Madcap Moss. The angle where he was attacked in the back aired shortly after.

WWE 2K22 has announced an official release date for the game. The game’s official YouTube channel released a video today that confirms the rumored March 11th, 2022 release date. Also confirmed in the video today is Rey Mysterio is the cover superstar.

“Representing the culture of lucha libre as the cover Superstar for WWE 2K22 is a moment of great pride for me,” said Rey Mysterio. “I’m looking forward to sharing the stories behind the big moments of my career with a dedicated community of players and connecting with WWE fans in a whole new way as they play through my 2K Showcase.”

“Throughout his career, Rey Mysterio has staged multiple comebacks to prove his resiliency time and time again, and through it all, has cemented his legacy as a living legend of sports entertainment,” said Alfie Brody, Vice President of Global Marketing Strategy at 2K. “In that same spirit of resiliency, WWE 2K22 strikes back with a slew of upgrades and community-requested features to give players complete control over the WWE experience.”

3 versions of the Undertaker has also been revealed as the pre-order bonus for the game. Additionally, a new “MyGM” mode will be available. The game is boasting a new engine, improved graphics, and a MyFaction mode as well.

There will also be a special “NWO” version of the game that can be purchased. This edition will feature Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Syxx-Pac, and Eric Bischoff as playable characters.

Update: The full WWE 2K22 Roster has been announced.

This will be the first game released in the series since the widely-panned WWE 2K20. Developers took a year off in response to the backlash over the game. The series has traditionally released new editions in the fall but this year the release date got pushed back to March.

The official announce trailer is available below:

Aliyah is hoping to become the first-ever Arab female WWE Superstar to perform in the Middle East.

WWE heads back to Saudi Arabia for Elimination Chamber next month and Aliyah is hoping to be on that show. She recently discussed this during an interview with Denise Salcedo.

“We’re heading to Saudi for Elimination Chamber. No matches have really been announced. It would be an honor to be the first-ever Arab female superstar to perform in the Middle East and that’s always been a huge goal of mine,” she said.

Real name Nhooph Al-Areebi, Aliyah has Syrian and Iraqi descent. She grew up in Toronto and was trained by Rob Fuego and Taylor Wilde before signing with WWE.

While it’s not known if Aliyah will be on the Elimination Chamber show in Saudi Arabia next month, she is booked to compete in the Royal Rumble later this month in St. Louis. Aliyah also spoke about performing in that match along with the likes of Lita, Mickie James, and the Bella Twins.

“It feels incredible because growing up I used to watch Lita, I used to watch Mickie James, I used to watch The Bellas. It’s so cool, on one hand, I get to see all the legends and on the other hand, I will look to my right and I will see Liv Morgan who is like my best friend forever so I am just so excited.”

Watch the full interview with Aliyah in the player below:

One-half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Carmella, has revealed that she tested positive for COVID-19 recently. Speaking on the “Bare With Us” podcast along with her partner, Corey Graves, Carmella revealed that she dealt with symptoms of the virus for 3 or 4 days.

“I got COVID. I got-got about what? A week-and-a-half ago? No, two weeks ago now,” Carmella said. “Yeah, I woke up super just not feeling well, just really tired, run down and took some tests and I tested positive and then I mean, it was like a cold. It was kind of like a little bit worse than a cold. I was down and out for like three or four days just not really doing much. But, on the up and up, feeling better now.”

They also revealed that Graves never did test positive for the virus despite being in close contact with Carmella.

“I had to take multiple tests just to be able to go back to work,” Graves said. “And you and I are both vaccinated and it was just it finally hit us and it was what it was, but I’ve avoided it this entire time.”

Carmella’s last match was on the January 3rd, 2022 episode of WWE RAW. Her and Queen Zelina successfully defended the Women’s Tag Team Championships against Rhea Ripley and Nikki ASH on that show.

H/T to Post Wrestling For The Above Transcriptions.