Paul Heyman was removed from his role as Executive Director of WWE RAW earlier this summer. Heyman has since returned as an on-screen character and the advocate for Roman Reigns. According to a report from Fightful, however, Heyman isn’t just being used as an on-screen character.

Heyman is said to be heavily involved in the creative process regarding Roman Reigns and his recent heel turn. This includes the segment where Heyman was revealed as his advocate, the main event of Payback, and Reigns’ recent promo on Smackdown. Heyman has been involved in everything regarding Roman’s return.

The situation is said to be similar to Heyman’s role helping with creative for Brock Lesnar and Goldberg.

WWE RAW Said To Be “Falling Apart” Without Paul Heyman

According to Garry Cassidy of Sportskeeda, one source stated to him that RAW is “falling apart” without Paul Heyman at the helm.

• Details On How WWE Views RAW & SmackDown, Fallout From Paul Heyman’s Creative Exit

Last night’s episode of RAW was said to be rewritten shortly before the show again. There were no matches announced for the broadcast until just before the show aired. The reported reason as to why no matches were announced ahead of time is that it was not clear what would be happening until just before it started.

Thunder Rosa wrestled Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women’s Championship Saturday night at All Out. Shida won champion versus champion match but Rosa had a solid performance nonetheless. Former NWA Women’s Champion, Allysin Kay, expressed frustration with Rosa for not winning on behalf of the NWA on the show. She took to Twitter to let her opinions on the subject be known.

Thunder Rosa also cleared up why her and Darby Allin have similar face paint:

Thunder Rosa vs Allysin Kay and NWA’s Weekly PPVs

• NWA Announces Weekly PPVs, Partnership With United Wrestling Network

The NWA returns on September 15th in conjunction with the United Wrestling Network. The NWA World Heavyweight Championship will be on the line the first show. Mike Bennett will challenge Nick Aldis for the gold.

“My goal here is simple: to provide the best contests possible with the greatest talent available, carrying on the great legacy of the National Wrestling Alliance as an independent governing body. And in that we hope to feature at least one championship match on every live broadcast,” said NWA Owner, Billy Corgan in a press release. 

“In my 30 years in both television production and promoting wrestling, this project will be the biggest of my career,” said UWN: Primetime LIVE Executive Producer David Marquez.

Last night on WWE RAW, Viking Raider Ivar was injured during an 8-man tag-team match. Ivar landed a dive through the ropes onto several wrestlers on the outside of the ring during the match and shortly after the referee put up the dreaded “X” sign indicating an actual injury had taken place.

WWE sent out an update on Ivar’s condition shortly after the conclusion of RAW.

“During the Eight-Man Tag Team Match on Monday Night Raw, Ivar suffered a cervical injury on a Viking Dive to the floor. As a precaution, Ivar was transported to a local hospital and is expected to make a full recovery,” a WWE.com update reads.

The Viking Raiders teamed with Apollo Crews and Ricochet to take on the Hurt Business on RAW last night. The Hurt Business added a new member in Cedric Alexander earlier in the show during another match featuring the stable. Alexander had teamed with Ricochet and Apollo Crews earlier in the show and turned on his babyface teammates. Alexander then officially joined the stable on MVP’s lounge segment.

• WWE Star Suffers Possible Injury During Monday Night RAW

Highlights from the 8-man tag where Ivar was injured can be viewed in the player below:

A fight may be brewing between WWE and its talent regarding the use of 3rd parties such as Twitch and Cameo. There is said to be a lot of uncertainty regarding what is and is not allowed as part of WWE’s ban but one noted Twitch user, Paige, says her account with the video game streaming service isn’t going anywhere.

Paige spoke on the issue during a Twitch stream over the weekend.

“Just so you guys know, this is all going to be changed. It’s gonna be changed to Saraya — my real name. We are not going to get rid of our Twitch, we are here to stay. We are not going anywhere. Twitch is our house. I’m the queen of Twitch, so there is no chance in hell we are getting rid of my stream. We’re here. We’re here to stay. No, guys, I can keep it. It’s just Saraya, just have to change it all over to Saraya. … Thank you guys for understanding. I know it’s going to be a little bit weird to get used to Saraya, but it is what it is.”

Paige switching her Twitch to her real name was addressed on Wrestling Observer Radio, however. On the show, it was noted that people backstage don’t believe that would be in keeping with WWE’s new policy.  

“The assumption is that Twitch is not fine,” Dave Meltzer said on the show. “I know that doing commercials for anybody is not fine, that I know. That was always going to happen, that was always going to be not fine.”

He would continue to say that talent has been told that WWE owns their real names as well.

“I know talent has been told that because when Paige switched one of her things to Saraya it was like ‘that ain’t going to fly because it’s still banned.’ So anyway, we’ll see how it all plays out,” Meltzer continued.

• WWE Issues Statement On Talent Ceasing Third Party Deals

Matt Sydal debuted for AEW during the Casino Battle Royale at All Out on Saturday. Shortly after being revealed as the wrestler who drew the “Joker” card for the match, Sydal slipped atop the top rope while attempting a shooting star press. Sydal is reportedly fine after the nasty looking fall. He took to Twitter recently to speak on what happened.

“Slipping was BONKERS! That was a first and hopefully a last. Thank you all for kind the messages and check in’s. I’m beyond honored to be a part of @AEWrestling’s All Out,” Sydal Tweeted.

Perhaps to make him feel better, Allie recalled a time when she got her foot caught between the ramp and the ring:

Matt Sydal Career Notes

• AEW All Out Results: Jon Moxley vs. MJF, Mimosa Mayhem, Matt Hardy

Sydal wrestled as Evan Bourne in WWE from 2007 to 2014. During his time with the company, he won the tag team titles along with Kofi Kingston. He also won the Slammy Award for Best Finisher in 2008.

Sydal is also a former ROH Tag champ along with Christopher Daniels. For Impact, he’s a former X-Division and Grand Champion.

In NJPW, Sydal is a 2x former IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag team champion along with Ricochet. He once won the the NEVER Openweight 6-man titles along with Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima as well.

1998 was an interesting year in WCW. The NWO split into two factions, NWO Hollywood and NWO Wolfpac. Goldberg was beginning to gain traction on Nitro. At the start of the year, WCW had a stranglehold on the ratings as well. Following WrestleMania 14 that year, however, things began to change. WWE would win the ratings war for the first time in 83 weeks on April 13th, 1998. WCW would only win it 8 more times before being bought out in 2001.

Bischoff says he wishes he had quit WCW that year. He spoke with Conrad Thompson on his podcast about it.

“The only regret I’ve ever really admitted to, to myself, not to anyone else, to myself, was regretting the fact that I didn’t quit WCW in July of 1998,” Bischoff said on the show.

“I saw the handwriting on the wall, I saw what was going on and I saw where it was taking me,” Bischoff continued. “90% of my battles weren’t being fought in a booking meeting or a creative meeting my battles were being fought internally and it took me away from creative.”

“I didn’t prioritize creative and we started just doing what was quickest and easiest and made sense in the moment as opposed to really digging in and being passionate about it the way we were in 96, 97 and early 98 before the whole AOL/Time Warner thing started happening.”

• Eric Bischoff Comments On Ultimate Warrior’s Contract With WCW

Bischoff’s comments can be heard in the player below:

Jerry “the King” Lawler has spoken in the past about having a poor experience working with Jim Carrey on “Man on the Moon.” In the film, Carrey portrays Andy Kaufman and during filming, used a method acting approach. This means Carrey attempted to be “in character” as Kaufman even when cameras weren’t rolling for the 80 or so days of filming.

During filming, Carrey began antagonizing Lawler even though in real-life, Kaufman and Lawler were friends. Lawler was a recent guest on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions and talked about the experience working with Carrey.

“He obviously thought we really didn’t like each other,” Lawler said on the show. He would continue to talk about a conversation he had with the director about Carrey’s attitude toward him.

“I asked Milos, I said ‘Milos, has this freakin guy not read the script? Surely, does he not realize that Andy and I were actually in real life were friends?’ And I’ll never forget this, he goes, ‘Oh, Jerry, Jerry. He’s the 800-pound gorilla, what can I do?’”

Lawler says the director was insinuating that Carrey is a huge star and there wasn’t much he could do about his behavior. Lawler would continue to say that he doesn’t feel Carrey got Kaufman.

Carrey recently starred in the Sonic the Hedgehog film. He is also the star of the show “Kidding” on Showtime.

• Jerry Lawler To Appear In Court For Brian Christopher’s Wrongful Death Trial

Lawler’s comments can be heard in the player below:

Former US Presidential candidate Andrew Yang was on CNN recently. Yang was asked about a Tweet he posted on WWE’s policy of deeming talent independent contractors on the show. In his Tweet, Yang promised to do something about WWE’s policy if he is the Secretary of Labor or has close contact with that person following the next election. He was asked about his comments during his appearance on CNN.

“I think the post you are talking about was my categorizing the misclassification of professional wrestlers as independent contractors which is completely ridiculous given that the WWE controls their name and likeness for years and controls their activities in many ways,” Yang said on the show.

Yang noted his concerns following WWE’s ban on talent working with 3rd parties such as Twitch. The noted wrestling fan has endorsed Joe Biden for President.

• Andrew Yang Promises To Address WWE’s Classification Of Talent As Independent Contractors

He was then asked what he would do on his first day if he was named Secretary of Labor.

“We have to try to get people the benefits that were associated with full-time jobs in different ways. Because we can’t pretend that its going to be like the 70s or 80s where you get a job and you’re at the same company for years and years. So certainly, you want to make it easier for workers to organize and bargain for better benefits,” Yang continued.

Tony Khan recently Tweeted out that Matt Hardy has passed all tests following a scary series of events on last night’s PPV. Hardy and Sammy Guevara fell onto two tables in the backstage area but Hardy’s head seemed to land flat on the concrete. According to the latest update from Khan, Hardy did not suffer a concussion and will be at Dynamite on Wednesday.

Tony Khan Tweeted out the following:

“An update on Matt Hardy: it’s great news! Matt’s ok, we sent him to the hospital as a precaution & he’s passed the MRI + CT scans, he doesn’t have a concussion, and he’s being driven home now. Matt will be at Dynamite on Wednesday night to thank you amazing fans for your support!”

Hardy looked to be out cold and later was having trouble continuing in the match. Referee Aubrey Edwards originally called for the match to be stopped but Hardy was eventually cleared to continue. Hardy would go on to win the match after Guevara fell from a structure onto some crash pads.

• Matt Hardy Sent To Hospital After Scary Spot At AEW All Out

A stipulation was added to the match that if Hardy had lost, he would have to leave AEW forever.

The terrifying creature that is AEW’s Abadon has called out Al Snow for his behavior during a training seminar. Abadon was responding to a Tweet posted by the Wrestlers Lab asking wrestlers to comment on being asked to change how they present themselves when she made the comments. Before talking about Al Snow, she mentioned some other comments she has heard from promoters.

She then continued to talk about an experience she had with Al Snow at a seminar.

“My personal favorite, “If this was a dildo on a pole match you guys would actually work better.” At a seminar in front of a bunch of peers right after an on the fly tag match,” Abadon Tweeted.

A follow-up Tweet revealed she is talking about Al Snow.

“That “legend” was Al Snow who said this to myself and 3 other women in front of EVERYONE at the seminar,” Abadon Tweeted.

Abadon holds a 5-1 record, with most of her wins coming on Dark. She defeated Anna Jay in her debut match on Dynamite.

• AEW Rankings Report 9/2: MJF, Nyla Rose, & FTR Retain Top Rankings

Other Responses

Several wrestlers have commented about being asked to change how they present themselves.

“I literally quit trying to be successful in 2008 until 2012 because I wasn’t marketable and the bookers didn’t “get me”” Tweeted Alex Shelley.

If Joe Biden defeats Donald Trump in the next US Presidential election, it could spell the end of WWE classifying talent as independent contractors. Former 2020 US Presidential candidate and noted wrestling fan Andrew Yang has promised to address the issue provided he is in a position to do so after the upcoming election.

Yang suspended his own campaign in February and has since endorsed Joe Biden for President.

Yang said that if he is not the Secretary of Labor following the election, he’s pretty sure he’ll be able to have a conversation with that person about WWE’s classification of talent as independent contractors. He let his thoughts on the matter be known in a lengthy multi-part series of Tweets yesterday.

Andrew Yang Tweets On WWE’s Classification Of Talent As Independent Contractors

“If I’m not the Secretary of Labor I’m pretty confident I’ll have his or her number to talk about the ridiculous classification of WWE wrestlers as independent contractors while controlling their name and likeness for years, even for something as benign as Cameo,” Yang Tweeted.

Yang would continue to note the other employee benefits WWE does not provide talent with.

“Come on Vince – you’ve already deprived the folks breaking their backs for you of healthcare, security, recovery time, retirement benefits and fair treatment re: licenses and royalties. At least let them make a living off their own names. Many of them need it.”

Yang would continue to say that he grew up a wrestling fan.

“I grew up a wrestling fan and it’s been sad to see so many of my childhood heroes pass away early. I’d feel better knowing that they and their families were being fairly treated – I look forward to doing what I can for the next generation of performers. I know how tough it is.”

Finally, Yang told Vince he better hope his friend Donald Trump wins the next election.

“Vince you’d better hope your old friend Donald wins because change is in the air and changes are long overdue where your corrupt labor practices are concerned. It would give me great pleasure. The people know.”

• Backstage News On WWE Banning Talent From 3rd Party Deals

News broke yesterday that WWE sent a letter to talent giving them 30 days to end relationships with 3rd parties such as Twitch and Cameo. According to a recent report from Wrestling Observer Radio, talent is not clear on many of the details of the new policy, including which 3rd parties they are no longer permitted to work with.

Backstage News on WWE’s 3rd Party Ban

“I can tell you the talent doesn’t really know exactly but I think that they know they have to get off Twitch and Cameo. I don’t think YouTube, I know people who don’t think YouTube but it has not been completely explained what this means to them,” said Dave Meltzer.

He would continue to speculate a possible reason why WWE is doing this is so that they could cut their own deal with such a 3rd party. WWE talent having their own relationship with these parties undercuts WWE’s ability to cut such a deal. It’s not known if this is what WWE has planned, however.

“Talent is waiting to hear probably more specifics as well. For them, they got the letter yesterday, they may have heard about it a couple of days earlier but they got the letter yesterday.”

Meltzer also spent some time speaking about some of the other possible reasons WWE decided to implement the ban. One idea was that talent are giving away inside news on Twitch and other streams.

“Maybe Vince is mad that they are saying things, that they are too open on some of these things too. You see some of the quotes on certain things, they make news. They don’t go that inside but some of them go inside,” Meltzer continued.

“Certainly the AJ Styles Paul Heyman stuff, for sure,” Meltzer said when asked if there were any specific incidents that may have caused problems.

• Vince McMahon Gives Deadline To WWE Stars To End Third Party Deals

Chris Jericho will face Orange Cassidy in a Mimosa Mayhem match at All Out. It will be the third match they have had in what has been a months long rivalry now between the two. Jericho recently spoke to SI.com and noted that at first, he didn’t really like Orange Cassidy.

“When I first came to AEW, I was not a fan of Orange Cassidy. I just didn’t get it. When I actually spent some time with him, watching his matches and seeing how he connected with the audience, I realized that he’s over. That’s the secret of wrestling: getting over. He’s over because he’s doing something no one’s ever done before,” Jericho said.

Jericho said that Cassidy being a type of character fans have never seen before is why he wanted to work with him. He spent some more time during the interview discussing what he wanted fans to see from Orange Cassidy during the program.

“This is a guy that hasn’t been in a main-event program before. I thought, let’s put him in one and see a side of Orange Cassidy, a violent side, that we’ve never seen before. Let’s see the Orange Cassidy that cuts a great promo and see how he does in an extended program. I believe we started this the week after Stadium Stampede, so it’s close to 14 weeks for this program.”

Jericho also noted that they two have had some entertaining segments on Dynamite and now will have a big match on PPV.

“We created some really good TV, and this is going to be a great pay-per-view blow-off match for this program,” Jericho continued.

• Jon Moxley Talks Who He Wants To Tag With in AEW

The full interview with Jericho can be read here.

Jonathan Huber is now known as Brodie Lee in AEW. He is the leader of the Dark Order and the new TNT Champion. Previously, he was known as Luke Harper during his 7-year career in WWE. Speaking with ESPN, Brodie Lee said that Luke Harper had a good career in WWE but he doesn’t want fans to see him as the guy who used to play that character.

“Luke Harper had a wonderful career in WWE, if you really look at it and break it down, he had a really good career,” Lee said. “But I don’t want people to think, ‘Oh, that used to be Luke Harper’ when they see Brodie Lee. I want them to be like, ‘Holy f—, that’s Brodie Lee, and he’s the man.'”

AEW President Tony Khan was also interviewed about Lee’s contributions to AEW thus far.

“He’s got the great physical size. He didn’t do so many promos in WWE, but he’s actually a great promo,” said Khan. “And so he was from the beginning someone that we figured to be a top person in AEW as soon as he signed with us.”

Lee also spent some time during the interview talking about learning to trust his instincts again upon arriving in AEW.

“I had to understand that my instincts were correct again,” said Lee. “I was almost seeking out so many opinions because that’s where I came from, that’s what it was. It was lots of people putting pieces in, instead of just letting myself be who I am.”

• AEW Has Surprises In The Works, Creative Changes Coming For The FTW Title?

The full interview can be read here.

It was reported earlier this week that Brock Lesnar is no longer under contract with WWE. His deal with the company is said to have expired in April. His merchandising arrangement with WWE expired just recently. According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, sources within WWE do not believe it makes sense to sign Lesnar to a new deal right now.

“One person in the company noted that it makes no sense to sign Lesnar to a new deal at the moment, as it would only be to keep him from AEW,” wrote Dave Meltzer. He would continue to say that the source doesn’t believe signing Lesnar is something AEW would do right now. The price tag that comes along with Lesnar’s services would be greater than the value he would provide.

From WWE’s perspective, signing Lesnar only makes sense if you have big Saudi Arabia shows and/or WrestleMania to promote.

“It was said that for Lesnar, like for Tyson Fury (who issued a challenge to Drew McIntyre this past week for a match), that it’s at this point Saudi Arabia and WrestleMania as the only shows that make sense right now and the belief right now is Saudi Arabia won’t happen this year,” Meltzer continued.

Lesnar’s free agency has made headlines in the world of MMA as well. Jon Jones has stated he would be interested in fighting the former UFC Heavyweight Champion.

It looks like with no Saudi shows or WrestleMania on the horizon, WWE won’t be signing Lesnar anytime soon. WWE is not worried about losing him to AEW either. They don’t think the price tag he demands would be worth it to the company at the moment.

• News On Whose Idea It Was To Turn Roman Reigns Heel

It’s been a big few months for the Mysterio family. Dominik made his pro-wrestling debut, Rey had his eyeball fully extracted and then made a miraculous recovery, and now the Cartoon Network Latin America will be producing an animated series based on the legendary luchador.

The announcement was made this week at Cartoon Network Day during the Pixelatl 2020 Festival.

“Working with Rey Mysterio and ¡Viva Calavera! It has been a pleasure and we are sure that we have an incredible story to tell. There are many elements to highlight: Mexico as a central element when creating this project, the level of action, the characters and the risks we have taken to make this story resonate and connect with many fans around the world. Booyaka! “, Commented Jiménez Rión, Director of Content for Cartoon Network in Mexico and Colombia.

A release date for the cartoon has not yet been announced. Some images have been, however.

Rey Mysterio is going to be out of action for some time due to a torn triceps suffered at Payback. Dominik replaced him in his scheduled match against Rollins on the show.

• Rey Mysterio Hopes Dominik Will Wear Mask & Become “Prince Mysterio”

Roman Reigns returned to WWE in the closing moments of SummerSlam and attacked both the Fiend and Braun Strowman with a chair. Then later that same week, he appeared on Smackdown along with Paul Heyman and cemented his status as a heel. According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it was Roman’s idea for him to turn heel.

“It’s not known whether it was Reigns or McMahon who made the call to put Heyman with Reigns, but Reigns did ask to be turned heel on his return after being out of action since March due to concerns over COVID-19,” wrote Dave Meltzer.

The report continues to state that Heyman has a high-paying contract as a performer even without Brock Lesnar under contract. WWE could either use him as a booking consultant or as a performer and so the decision was made to put him with Reigns.

Reigns and Heyman are scheduled to open up tonight’s episode of Smackdown. Also scheduled for tonight is a fatal 4-way match pitting King Corbin vs Matt Riddle vs Big E vs Sheamus. The winner of that match will challenge Reigns for the Universal title at Clash of Champions on September 27th, 2020.

• Roman Reigns Has Harsh Response To Fan Who Says He’s Being Pushed Down People’s Throats

The USA Network has reportedly floated the idea to WWE about NXT switching from Wednesday nights to Tuesday nights permanently.

According to comments made on Wrestling Observer Radio, however, the idea had been floating around for months but Vince McMahon quickly shot it down.

“From day one, every single person knew that if they put NXT on television on Thursday or on Tuesday it would draw significantly more than it would on Wednesday,” Dave Meltzer said.

“They were put on television to make sure that AEW went out of business. Obviously, in January things changed because once AEW got that contract the goal of NXT on television failed. That was a failure, it did not work.”

Meltzer continued to talk about a meeting that was held a couple of months ago about possibly switching NXT to another night.

“A couple of months ago there was a meeting discussing this very issue with WWE with Vince and at the meeting it was like ‘if we move to another day we’ll do bigger numbers, we’ll have a wider audience.’ And at that meeting it was shut down for all the obvious reasons. What was it put on TV in the first place for?”

“I don’t think Vince wants the perception that they ran from the fight,” he continued.

• NXT Draws Strong Viewership Tuesday, Could Be Changing Nights

On Dynamite this week, it was announced that Dr. Britt Baker DMD will face Big Swole at All Out. The match will take place on the Buy-In before the main card starts. Swole noted on Dynamite that the match is being dubbed a “Tooth and Nail Match.” According to a recent report on Wrestling Observer Radio, the match will not take place live and will be a cinematic match filmed before airing.

“I believe the only match (on the Buy-In) is going to be the Britt Baker – Swole match which is a cinematic match, it will not be done live. It may have already been done for all I know,” said Dave Meltzer.

He would continue to note that the setting for the match will be Baker’s dentist office.

“It’s being done at, in theory, at Britt Baker’s dentist office. They are not going to do a wrestling match, they are going to do a cinematic match,” Meltzer continued.

This week on Dynamite, Rebel/Reba disguised as a pizza delivery person and distracted Swole. This allowed Baker to attack her rival from behind.

• AEW Dynamite Results (9/2): MJF Attacks Jon Moxley, Jericho & Orange Cassidy

Previously, Baker took fans on a tour of her dentist office:

Jim Ross recently spent some time talking about Bret Hart’s run in 1996 on an episode of the Grillin Jr podcast. During the discussion, Ross commented on the debate between who was the better pick for champion at the time between Hart and Shawn Michaels.

Conrad commented on how in 1996, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels supporters each had reasons to believe business improved when their guy was champion.

“There really wasn’t a wrong answer. I’m sure some people could overthink it,” JR said.

“I didn’t know that there was a bad decision in this deal. It’s a matter of how’s it going to affect overall business and how’s it going to affect the locker room.”

“It’s a matter of how do you do this and make sure both your talents are motivated and they are somewhat happy because unhappy main eventers can be a cancer in the locker room. Because main event guys carry more clout, they have more clout, and they are on top for a reason one would think. So, if they are pissed off or they are unhappy then they must be right.”

“Let’s not forget either, Bret had his share of supporters, a lot of them, in the locker room. Guys liked Bret. He was unassuming, he was easy to talk to and Shawn was younger, brash, cocky, and Vince saw a little of himself in Shawn Michaels.”

“Bottom line, there is no wrong answer on that because both guys were going to be great champions.”

• Jim Ross Comments On Stephanie McMahon As A Performer

JR’s comments can be heard in the player below:

The Ultimate Warrior was briefly part of the WCW roster in 1998. He feuded with Hollywood Hogan, formed the “One Warrior Nation” and then was gone from the promotion by the end of the year. Eric Bischoff recently spoke about Warrior’s contract with WCW and the negotiations he went through with him.

“The deal closed with Warrior a matter of weeks after my first meeting,” Bischoff said. “It wasn’t a long protracted negotiation or discussion. There was no follow-up meetings, there was no open issues that had to be addressed. We had the meeting, we covered it, we almost immediately started into contract negotiations with Warrior’s attorney and they wrapped up rather quickly.”

Conrad then asked Bischoff if Warrior had creative control of his storylines worked into his contract.

“Nope,” Bischoff responded. “Look, he wanted an opportunity to be involved in the discussion, so would anybody, so would anybody right now in WWE and so would anybody right now in AEW. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that conversation? But there was no creative control discussion whatsoever.”

Conrad then asked if Warrior had any weird requests during contract negotiations but evidently there were none.

“There were no eccentric requests that I can remember,” Bischoff admitted.

• Eric Bischoff On WCW’s Policy For Hiring ECW Wrestlers

Bischoff’s comments can be heard in the player below:

AJ Styles and Kevin Nash both revealed recently that they tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Both wrestlers appear to be doing well.

Styles was on Twitch discussing The Rock’s recent comments about his family having tested positive when he noted he had as well.

“I tested positive a couple of weeks ago, almost a month, I think, ago. I feel for people who have to deal with this,” Styles said. He would continue to talk about his experience with the virus.

“I didn’t have many problems with it. Hopefully, The Rock and his family are safe and nobody has too bad of symptoms. It’s not good for anybody. I went through it, I was one of the lucky ones. I had a headache but never had a fever. Maybe a couple of boogers, that’s about it.”

Styles was gone from WWE for a month. He did not participate in tapings from the 3rd week of July until the 3rd week of August.

Kevin Nash responded to the Rock’s social media post and noted that he and his family had tested positive for the virus as well.

“Welcome to the team. Very sorry you’re family is infected. I was tired for a while didn’t train for the 4th day. My wife still hasn’t got smell or tastes back. Son was asymptomatic. Pray you heal up quickly. Thank you for making people realize it’s real,” Nash Tweeted.

“Sorry to hear that brother. Not a team we want to be on for sure. You guys stay strong too (still haven’t got my tastes back either),” The Rock responded.

• The Rock Reveals He And His Family Tested Positive For Coronavirus

It has been 14 months since 51-year-old Triple H wrestled. His last match was on a June 29th, 2019 house show event in Tokyo, Japan. Triple H teamed with Shinsuke Nakamura and defeated Robert Roode and Samoa Joe that night. In a recent interview, however, Triple H expressed that he is unsure if he’ll ever wrestle again. Also, if he is done with his in-ring career, he’s fine with that.

“If the opportunity does not come for me to step back in the ring, I get asked it a lot,” Triple H said on the Bill Simmons podcast recently. “It would not bother me. I would not be like, ‘Oh, man, I missed those last two years. I should have done it when I could have.'”

When asked if he’s officially retired, however, Triple H was uncommital.

“I’d rather just not say it and if the right opportunity comes up that everybody believes is right, and I believe I can do it without it falling apart, me or the match, then okay, I would consider it,” Triple H said. “I am not at a point where I would say, ‘Absolutely not, under any circumstances, but probably not that far off.'”

Triple H would continue to say that he gets a lot of excitement from his work with NXT and backstage on the main roster.

 “So, I always will use this analogy, for me, NXT for me in a way, and even the main roster, watching the guys and the girls because they all come through there, it’s the difference between as exciting as your own career is, it’s watching your kids succeed at something.”

• Triple H Talks About Competing With AEW, Raw’s Runtime, Cancel Culture

Tyson Fury recently issued a challenge to Drew McIntyre. Fury, who defeated Braun Strowman via Count Out last year at Crown Jewel last year, took to Twitter to post a video challenge to the WWE champion, who has since responded.

“Drew, where are you, Drew? You big sh**house. Don’t make excuses, cracked jaws or not. Let’s fight. Let’s get it on, chump. You got kicked in the jaw in a broken jaw, imagine what this big fist will do to your jaw? Shatter it in a million pieces.”

“You have before the Wilder fight, after the Wilder fight, or before the AJ fight but don’t be a sh**house Drew, let’s get it on, chump.”

McIntyre has since issued a response to the boxing champion. He noted that before he gets to Fury, he has some unfinished business to attend to on RAW.

This week on RAW, Randy Orton won a triple threat match to earn a championship rematch at Clash of Champions against Drew. At SummerSlam, McIntyre defeated Orton with a backslide pinning combination.

McIntyre originally called out Fury shortly after he defeated Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36.

• Drew McIntyre & Tyson Fury Hyping Potential WWE Title Match

“I know Tyson Fury is on the show today, as well. I need to bring up Fury because he was talking trash about me, so I know he’s coming on the show,” McIntyre said.

AEW has released new top-5 rankings ahead of tonight’s episode of Dynamite.

AEW Men’s Singles Division

AEW World Champion: Jon Moxley (15-0)
TNT Champion: Brodie Lee (6-1)

1. MJF (8-0)
2. Lance Archer (13-1)
3. Cody (18-2)
4. Brian Cage (6-1)
5. Scorpio Sky (7-2)

There was no change in the men’s singles rankings this week but one of the biggest title matches in AEW’s young history takes place on PPV this weekend. Somebody’s “0” has to go as the undefeated champion, Jon Moxley (15-0), takes on the #1 ranked MJF (8-0).

Elsewhere in the division, #3 Cody looks like he could be out of action for sometime after the beating he took at the hands of the Dark Order.

#2 Lance Archer and #4 Brian Cage are both gearing up for the Casino Battle Royal at All Out. #5 Scorpio Sky will team with the Natural Nightmares and Matt Cardona on the PPV to take on the Dark Order as well.

AEW Women’s Division

AEW Women’s Champion: Hikaru Shida (16-1)

1. Nyla Rose (8-2)
2. Big Swole (7-3)
3. Abadon (5-1) (+1)
4. Penelope Ford (7-5) (-1)
5. Dr. Britt Baker (4-5)

AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida will face the NWA Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa at All Out. Elsewhere in the division, however, the frightening Abadon keeps rising up the rankings as she picks up wins on Dark.

#4 Penelope Ford dropped one spot in the rankings this week as she lost a handicap match along with Rebel (aka Reba) to #2 Big Swole on Dynamite. #5 Britt Baker was technically involved in that match as well, so she takes an L and drops below .500 for the year.

AEW Tag Team Division

AEW Tag Team Champions: Kenny Omega & “Hangman” Page (12-0)

1. FTR (7-0) 
2. Best Friends (14-5)
3. Young Bucks (6-3)
4. The Natural Nightmares (6-2)
5. Jurrasic Express (6-3) (+1)

#1 FTR maintained their top ranking this week after winning the tag gauntlet match on Dynamite. In fact, the top-4 rankings in the tag division all stayed the same as nobody in the match lost to a lesser-ranked opponent. #3 The Young Bucks defeated #4 the Natural Nightmares, then #2 The Best Friends defeated #3 The Young Bucks before #1 FTR finally defeated #2 The Best Friends to earn the tag title shot at All Out.

The Dark Order fell out of the rankings this week. #5 Jurassic Express took their place. The dinosaur themed team will tag with the Young Bucks tonight to take on Private Party and SCU. The winning team will face each other at All Out.

• AEW Rankings Report 8/26: Cody Falls To #3