With the Elias name owned by WWE, the former Superstar has now relaunched himself for his career outside of the promotion. On Twitter this week, The ex-Superstar announced that he is now Elijah. The video leaned on biblical themes, which makes sense as both the Elias and Elijah names come from the Old Testament prophet of the same name.
Elias can be seen waking in a wooded area while snippets of his time in WWE flash on screen. A voice-over also speaks in biblical prose before Elias arrives at a grave site with a priest waiting for him. The former WWE Superstar falls backwards into the grave before re-emerging from the dirt as Elijah.
This rebrand has had fans talking and also caught the attention of another Elijah. On Twitter, a Welsh wrestler who also competes as Elijah shared his reaction to the ex-Superstar’s rebrand.
In a message shared throughout WWE (obtained by PW Insider), Khan said the following:
After 40+ years of helping to build WWE and, hands down, the best production and media unit in the entire sports and entertainment business, Kevin Dunn, will be leaving our company as of today.
Before WrestleMania 1, Kevin joined Vince at WWF. Many of us remember a pre-WrestleMania WWF – a regional wrestling company that looked like a regional wrestling company. Then we experienced WrestleMania 1, whether live, on closed circuit or years later elsewhere. It was magic. A regional wrestling company had become a global sports entertainment juggernaut. Vince led the way, side by side with Kevin Dunn. When many of us were kids standing in line waiting to play Pac-Man, Kevin was already on the road breaking his back to help build our company.
When you see our product now, there is nothing that comes close to its look or feel – 52 weeks a year, three to four times a week. It is singular and truly special. No other company can or will do that, and that is because of Kevin and our media team’s hard work, smarts and determination.
We are forever grateful to Kevin. He will always be a part of the WWE family.
Some thought that Kevin Dunn would be fired after the retirement of Vince McMahon in July 2022. Click here to check out Triple H’s comments at the time.
On a recent edition of Nick Hausman’s Rumor and Innuendo podcast, New was asked for his reaction to Jericho’s remarks. New admitted to being surprised and still believes that Jericho should be tied to an NDA preventing him from speaking about the matter.
“Without revealing too much of the confidentiality to which I am bound, is my understanding that anyone who witnessed the incident at All Out 2022 would have been obligated to sign an NDA. Chris indicated he was a witness, which, to me, implies that he would have been examined by the law firm investigating the incident and required to sign an NDA.”
New added that whether Jericho saw the backstage fight or not, AEW’s confidential policies may prevent him from addressing the matter publicly.
“Furthermore, I believe that AEW talent is obligated to maintain confidentiality, as it is part of the company’s policies, handbooks, and regulations. Therefore, whether Jericho witnessed a part of the incident or not, he is still bound by the company’s confidentiality policies.”
While Jericho has claimed that he doesn’t have an NDA preventing him from talking about the “disgusting” events of the brawl, he has yet to give any new information about what happened.
WWE changed things up with their handling of the final live event in 2023, but these changes were welcomed by the Superstars at the show.
The December 30, WWE live event took place at the KIA Forum in Inglewood, California. The show was the last event on WWE’s record-breaking Holiday Tour. The event marked the second match for CM Punk since returning to WWE at Survivor Series. The Best in the World defeated Dominik Mysterio, whom he also defeated at the December 26 event in MSG.
WWE Makes Changes to Live Event
With this show being WWE’s last of 2023, the promotion wanted to make things easier for the Superstars traveling for New Year’s. PW Insider reports that the show was structured to get talent done and out so they could head to LAX for red-eye flights home. This is something that likely may not have been done regularly for anyone except the very top Superstars under the previous McMahon-led regime.
This effort to get talent out as early as they could led to a steel cage match and a World Heavyweight Championship match going on early, and the card was “haphazard” compared to the more traditional WWE events. This was all designed to thank talent for their week of hard work over the tour by getting them back home ASAP. One WWE Superstar even joked that the scene backstage was like Home Alone 2, as everybody was racing for and through the airport to get to their respective flights.
2023 is officially in the history books, and the wrestling community has been celebrating the arrival of 2024.
Like countless people around the world, the wrestlers have been celebrating New Year’s in their own unique ways. You can see some of the celebrations down below.
Gail Kim
IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Famer Gail Kim was able to ring in the new year in Australia. The seven-time Knockouts Champion described celebrating New Year’s in Sydney as a bucket list moment.
Due to time zones, those in Australia were among the first to ring in 2024. Jessica McKay, who recently gave birth to a healthy baby boy, was also pleased to celebrate the arrival of the new year.
Nikki Cross may be a silent, motionless creepy individual on WWE Raw, but she was anything but that on New Year’s Eve. The former Raw Women’s Champion was able to reunite with her friend and fellow wrestler Rhia O’Reilly to see in 2024.
Reunited with the wonderful @rdpixie yesterday as well ????
2023 proved to be a huge year for Zelina Vega, who had an emotional outing at Backlash in Puerto Rico. The Queens Crown Tournament winner certainly dressed to impress when celebrating the New Year.
Adam Cole proved his true colors at AEW Worlds End by revealing himself as The Devil. On Twitter, Cole celebrated his betrayal of MJF by saying that the New Year will show the “real me”.
Gia Miller is excited for what’s to come when IMPACT Wrestling relaunches as TNA this month. The backstage correspondent who occasionally wrestlers was having a blast during her own New Year’s celebration.
Former WWE Women’s Champion Debra had a fun New Year’s celebration which saw her go to a nice restaurant and ring in 2024 with a bonfire with her loved ones.
While WWE hasn’t announced Andrade’s return, clues are piling up that he will be back soon. As previously reported, a former champion is expected to return to WWE on tonight’s ‘Day 1’ edition of Monday Night Raw, which could be the former NXT and United States Champion.
Now, another major clue has indicated that Andrade’s return to WWE is happening, even if not at tonight’s Raw. PW Insider reports that Andrade was advertised for at least one GCW event for 2024, and that is no longer the case. WWE famously prefers to keep their talent away from other promotions, with only a select few exceptions.
WWE Day 1 Raw
Whether Andrade appears tonight or not, the Day 1 episode of Raw will be quite the show. The following matches have been confirmed.
Becky Lynch vs. Nia Jax
Tegan Nox and Natalya vs. Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark (Number One Contenders match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships)
Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Ivy Nile (WWE Women’s World Championship)
Seth “Freakin” Rollins (c) vs. Drew McIntyre (WWE World Heavyweight Championship)
WWE ended 2023 on a high by hosting a record-breaking Holiday Tour, as touted by Head of Talent & Creative Triple H.
The eight-night tour kicked off on December 26 with WWE’s annual event from Madison Square Garden in New York City. That same night, WWE would host an event in Baltimore, Maryland. WWE would also host events in Boston, Montreal, State College, Detroit, Houston, Toronto, and Las Vegas before ending the tour at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.
Taking to Twitter, Triple H shared more impressive news about the recent Holiday Tour. The 14-time WWE World Champion revealed that the eight-show tour had four sell-out events. Eight of the total ten events on the tour proved to be record-breaking gates for wrestling shows in their respective arenas.
In addition to #WWEMSG becoming the highest-grossing domestic non-televised WWE live event of all time, @WWE’s Holiday Tour broke records in markets across North America.
With this highly successful tour in the history books, WWE’s attention turns to what will be a stacked week of programming. Tonight’s Raw will be a ‘Day 1’ special edition of the red brand, followed by NXT New Year’s Evil the following night. On Friday, WWE will host their ‘New Year’s Revolution’ edition of SmackDown. From there, WWE will host the Royal Rumble on January 27. The promotion will head to Perth, Australia for their Elimination Chamber event in February, before WrestleMania 40 in April.
What resolutions do the WWE Superstars have for the New Year? Click here to find out.
Shelton Benjamin’s time with WWE may have ended, but the Gold Standard is by no means done in the ring.
Benjamin, a former U.S. Intercontinental, Tag Team, and 24/7 Champion, was released from WWE in September of 2023 as part of the first wave of releases following the launch of TKO Group Holdings. Benjamin’s first run with WWE lasted from 2000 to 2010 with his second run going from 2017 to 2023.
Shelton Benjamin On His Wrestling Future
During a Twitch stream, Benjamin was thanked by a fan for his years of entertainment. The ex-Superstar was grateful for the kind words and shared his timeframe for his future in the ring.
“Thank you for watching. I hope you enjoyed [it]. I hope to give you [a] few years more, ’cause I’m not done yet. Not quite.”
During the stream, Benjamin was also asked about his move to Raw in 2004. Benjamin was drafted to the red brand in April and debuted by getting a series of upset wins over Triple H.
“My thoughts on that was it was totally a surprise to me I had no idea what was planned. I didn’t realize how big that moment would be for me. It put me on the map.
“So much respect for Triple H for being willing to do the honors to get my name out there. It was amazing. That whole week, that whole run was one of the best times of my career.”
The next ‘Battle of the Belts’ event from All Elite Wrestling could be a matter of weeks away, despite not being confirmed yet by the promotion.
Battle of the Belts is a one-hour special presented by AEW in which championship matches are the key. The show has also seen titles defended for AEW’s sister promotion Ring of Honor Wrestling, which Tony Khan acquired in March of 2022.
While not advertised, the next Battle of the Belts event could be just 12 days away. Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful notes that the next Battle of the Belts event is listed on TNT’s schedule for January 13, at 10 PM EST. This is the same day of TNA Hard to Kill, which will be the promotion’s relaunch after years as IMPACT Wrestling.
AEW Battle of the Belts
The first Battle of the Belts event took place in January of 2022 at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Since then, a total of eight Battle of the Belts events have taken place. The most recent was in October of 2023 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee.
Despite the name, title changes have been a rarity at AEW’s Battle of the Belts events. Over the two years of events, only two matches have seen a new champion be crowned. At the first Battle of the Belts event, Sammy Guevara defeated Dustin Rhodes to win the Interim AEW TNT Championship. The second and most recent title change at Battle of the Belts also involved Guevara and saw the Spanish God win the TNT Championship from Scorpio Sky at Battle of the Belts 2 in April 2022.
A difficult situation has led to former Ring of Honor Wrestling talent Rhett Titus selling some of his gear to help pay for some necessary costs.
On Twitter, Titus explained that despite being approved for maternity leave months ago, his insurance company has not paid his wife. This has led to his wife rushing back to work after having a C-section. Titus revealed that he will be selling a lot of his wrestling memorabilia from his time as a fan and as a wrestler.
In the comments, Titus shared some vintage wrestling shirts, including the first-ever shirt released by Ring of Honor. Titus also shared a crew shirt for last year’s AEW All In event, which was never made available for purchase. Titus also had some other rare shirts as well as pieces of his own merchandise available for purchase.
Rhett Titus in the Ring
Titus is best known for his tenure in Ring of Honor which began in 2006. Titus is a former ROH World Television Champion and won the title from Dalton Castle at Final Battle 2021. He is also a former two-time ROH World Tag Team Champion and won the now-defunct Top of the Class Trophy once. In 2020 he won a Year-End award for Faction of the Year with The Foundation.
Titus has also competed for several other promotions, including Jersey Championship Wrestling, Full Impact Pro, Force One Pro Wrestling, and MCW Pro Wrestling, where he is a former MCW Heavyweight Champion. In 2012, he broke the top 100 wrestlers in the world in Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s annual PWI 500 ranking, by coming in at #98.
Rhett Titus appeared on an episode of AEW Collision in an unlikely role. Click here to find out more.
Kevin Dunn wasn’t the most well-liked person in WWE, so much so that when Vince McMahon retired in July of 2022, many predicted that Dunn would be fired. This speculation was quashed by Triple H himself, who named Dunn as a major part in WWE’s plans post-McMahon. Despite what some may believe, Dunn was not fired by WWE, according to a report from PW Insider. Instead, he is choosing to retire, and made it clear to WWE higher-ups he was finishing during the Christmas week.
There was a push for Dunn to stay on through the Royal Rumble and possibly finish with WrestleMania 40 in April 2024. Instead, Dunn preferred a clean cut and he is done with WWE “effectively immediately.” The report emphasized how massive a deal for Dunn to be leaving, no matter if people liked him or not.
Why People Dislike Kevin Dunn
Though he always seemed to have Vince McMahon on his side, Dunn was hardly popular within WWE or with the company’s fans. Many take issue with Dunn’s use of quick camera cuts that make the action hard to follow as well as some of his attitudes towards wrestlers. Dunn reportedly was against pushing Becky Lynch because of her Irish accent and believed that she’d never be able to cut a good promo. In his book MOX, Jon Moxley writes about Dunn’s influence.
“In a place like WWE, that one comment, one little seed planted by a guy in Kevin Dunn’s position can be extremely detrimental to someone’s future there. That’s a lot of power, and power breeds ego. Connecticut … old, rich boys’ club ego. I’ve heard all kinds of stories about that guy messing with people’s careers. Suffice to say that dude is a fu**bag.”
Dunn was also said to be against pushing Billie Kay as he did not find her funny. It is also reported that he was against pushing any women he did not find personally attractive.
So what’s next? Well here are some of the New Year’s Resolutions from the Superstars of WWE.
Bianca Belair
Bianca Belair lost the WWE Women’s Championship to IYOY SKY at SummerSlam, mere moments after capturing the gold at the same event. On last week’s SmackDown, Belair admitted she doesn’t usually make resolutions, but vowed to recapture the title and remain undefeated at WrestleMania.
On the show, Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits resolved that they will have “more” in 2024. Lashley added that the new year will not just be good for his faction, but it’ll be “All Mighty.”
Grayson Waller & Austin Theory
Grayson Waller & Austin Theory have impressed those backstage as a tag-team. On SmackDown, the pair said that winning singles and tag titles are their goals for 2024. Theory added that he wants to win the Royal Rumble while Waller plans on headlining WrestleMania.
Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio has a simple resolution for 2024: to get Dominik Mysterio and Santos Escobar.
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson hopes to usher in a new era of football following the merger of the XFL and the USFL.
Johnson acquired the XFL in 2020 after Vince McMahon’s second attempt at the world of professional football was snuffed out by the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest season kicked off in February of this year.
The United Football League
It was recently reported that Dwayne Johnson had a huge announcement about the XFL and the Brahma Bull has delivered. Johnson, alongside business partner Dany Garcia, appeared on FOX’s NFL pre-game show. The former WWE Champion acknowledged Jimmy Johnson to kick things off, as he was inducted into the Dallas Cowboys Ring Of Honor last night this week.
Johnson and Garcia then announced the merger of the XFL and the USFL to form the UFL. Johnson spoke about joining the leagues together to improve football and give a better product for both the fans and players. Johnson hopes that by combining leagues they can cement the future of spring football after it stopped and started over the previous decades. Johnson added that he always wanted to play in the NFL but said he’d be the 54th man when the rosters are cut at 53.
The UFL will air on FOX and ESPN. The first game will take place on March 30, and see the champions of the XFL and USFL face each other in the opener. The merger and launch of the UFL shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise for fans. In September, it was announced that the XFL and USFL were looking to merge.
Today marks the official announcement regarding the launch of the United Football League (the “UFL”), the premier spring football league that will result from the merger of the XFL and USFL.
While speculation grows about Giulia joining WWE, the 29-year-old wrestler isn’t ready to publicly make the move just yet. In an interview with Tokyo Sports, the reigning NJPW Strong Women’s Champion was asked about the reports.
“This is the first time I’ve been asked this directly in an interview (reports of WWE having interest in her). What can I say… Giulia has grown up (laughs). But, I still have things to do in Japan.”
CM Punk headlining WrestleMania won’t mark the finish of his story, but rather just the beginning, according to the WWE Raw Superstar.
Punk is one of two men confirmed for next month’s Men’s Royal Rumble match, with the other being Cody Rhodes. Both men are considered favorites to win the Men’s Rumble match. The show will mark ten years since Punk’s final match at a WWE PLE which came as part of the 2014 Royal Rumble Match.
CM Punk is Just Getting Started
At the December 30, WWE live event in Inglewood, California, CM Punk defeated Dominik Mysterio in a rematch from their Boxing Day collision. Punk once again received a massive ovation from the fans in attendance, who joined in with his signature ‘It’s Clobbering Time!’ catchphrase.
Speaking to the fans after the match, Punk addressed Rhea Ripley not being in Dominik’s corner before turning his attention toward the Men’s Rumble match.
“Like all of you, I’m disappointed that Rhea Ripley wasn’t here tonight. I was looking forward to hoisting her and bodyslamming her to cause California to break down the San Andreas fault and fall into the ocean. Maybe next time. Give yourselves a round of applause you beautiful, beautiful, people. You packed this place, days after Christmas. You spent your hard-earned money and your valuable time to spend time with us and I appreciate that.
“At the end of the month in January, I go to the Royal Rumble and damnit, if there was a sign hanging in this building I’d point at it right now. But I’ll point at my heart [Punk does so] because that’s where all of you reside until I walk into the Rumble and I walk out the winner! That’s me, finishing what I started and it’s not over then because then I’m going to go on to main event WrestleMania. And that’s not the finish of my story, sorry Cody, that’s me just getting started!”
Punk received a ton of support from the fans, as well as behind the scenes. Backstage, WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi was very pleased to see Punk at the event. In a video shared on social media, Rikishi can be seen welcoming Punk ‘home.’
Adam Copeland’s days as a WWE Superstar may be a thing of the past, but the Rated R Superstar paid tribute to one of his iconic WrestleMania matches last night.
Since joining AEW at WrestleDream, Copeland has been feuding with his former friend and ex-tag team partner Christian Cage. The two faced off for the TNT title in Montreal earlier this month on an episode of Dynamite in a match that Cage would win.
Copeland’s WrestleMania 22 Tribute
At AEW Worlds End, Copeland once again challenged for the AEW TNT Championship, this time in a No Disqualifications match. Throughout the match, Copeland paid tribute to his epic Hardcore match at WrestleMania 22 in 2006, which saw the then-Edge defeat Mick Foley. Copeland wore the same attire at Worlds End that he wore for the match with Foley, right down to his vest.
Later in the match, Copeland used a flaming table, just as he had at WrestleMania 22 nearly two decades earlier. Rather than spearing someone through the table though like he did in Chicago, Copeland powerbombed Nick Wayne onto the table at Worlds End.
After months of build, the reveal of the Devil has had the wrestling world talking. Taking to Twitter, Cole shared a snippet from the song ‘pride.is.the.devil. by J. Cole and Lil Baby.
Anthony Bowens has been aligned with MJF and was attacked by The Devil’s henchmen alongside the rest of the Acclaimed recently. The AEW Trios Champion had just two words for Cole and his allies.
Alex Hammerstone recently wrapped up his time with MLW and has teased joining AEW. The former MLW World Champion shared a photo of himself alongside MJF, and others during their time as The Dynasty and asked if MJF needs some help.
There have been some negative reactions to the closing moments of AEW Worlds End, but that hasn’t phased Samoa Joe. The new AEW World Champion made it clear he’s enjoying the ‘salty tears’ of fans.
Damn, ankles gonna swell all these salty tears I’m drinking.
AEW is the safest place for professional wrestlers, according to AEW President Tony Khan, as the allegations against Chris Jericho continue to make headlines.
Jericho faced NDA and Kylie Rae chants during AEW Worlds End, and a hashtag movement calling for him to be fired trended on Twitter. Speaking on the post-Worlds End Media Scrum, Tony Khan was asked about the allegations and the protocol to keep wrestlers safe from unwanted advances.
“We’re very serious about [that] and we’ve had a policy in place. Certainly I think any time there’s anything like that, we would make sure we do everything we can to prevent it. AEW has the best safety record I believe of any pro wrestling company in the world. I believe we have the most safe environment. I believe we have the best safety record of any pro wrestling company and I would hold the record of AEW on safety against any wrestling company in the world. I think we, AEW is the safest place for pro wrestling and if any of our wrestlers ever have a concern they always have an open line to talk to me and I you know I believe anybody would sit here and tell you they always can talk to me anytime they are concerned about anything.”
When asked for details about the steps wrestlers can take if they feel they are being harassed, Khan outlined what happens to a wrestler if they are found to have violated company policy.
“If there was anything that came to light to me, I would take it to the disciplinary committee. That’s how we’ve been doing it and I think our disciplinary committee has been doing a great job. Everybody knows they have an open line to me or anybody on that committee.”
For the use of quotes, please give an H/T to SE Scoops.
AEW Worlds End will go down as one of the worst nights in the career of MJF, who lost his AEW World Championship and his best friend in one fell swoop.
For months, MJF has been targeted by somebody in his ‘Devil’ mask, who has been attacking anyone close to the scarf-wearing wrestler. Suspicion had been running rampant within AEW, with several wrestlers and even MJF himself being accused of being behind the attacks.
A New AEW World Champion
With his tag-team partner Adam Cole injured, MJF was until recently in an unlikely team with Samoa Joe. On this week’s Dynamite though, Joe betrayed MJF, who would lose the ROH World Tag Team Championships to two of the Devil’s henchmen. It was revealed on Dynamite that MJF had done ‘business’ with the Devil.
At Worlds End, MJF defended his AEW World Championship against Joe and a title change took place. The finish saw Samoa Joe lock MJF in the Coquina Clutch, and his arm fell three times, resulting in the submission victory and a title change.
Following the match, the Devil’s goons attacked MJF and Cole, who was at ringside for the match to ‘support’ his ‘friend.’ When one of the masked men was about to hit Cole with a chair, the lights went out. When they came back on, CVole was revealed as the Devil.
The masked men were also revealed as Roderick Strong, Wardlow, Mike Bennett, and Matt Taven. The four men beat down MJF and left him out cold to close the show.
Adam Copeland captured the AEW TNT Championship at Worlds End, in his first title win in over a decade, but the Canadian’s run with the gold was very short-lived.
Since joining AEW at WrestleDream, Copeland has been feuding with his former friend and ex-tag team partner Christian Cage. The two faced off for the TNT title in Montreal earlier this month on an episode of Dynamite in a match that Cage would win.
Adam Copeland Wins (and Loses)
In a No-Disqualification match at AEW Worlds End, Cage and Copeland held nothing back in their efforts to leave Long Island with the TNT Championship. As the winners of the first two TLC matches, it was fitting that the bout featured Tables, Ladders, and Chairs. In the end, Copeland hit Cage with Christian’s own Killswitch finisher to get the win and become the new TNT Champion.
This was an emotional win for Copeland, as it was his first time winning a championship since he captured the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from Dolph Ziggler in early 2011. Unfortunately for the Hall of Famer, his time on top was short-lived. After the match, Killswitch (formerly Luchasaurus) hit the ring with a guaranteed TNT Championship match contract Killswitch had won the opportunity during the Zero-Hour pre-show battle royal.
Look who’s here to cash in their TNT Title Shot!!! KILLSWITCH!
Rather than challenge Copeland, Killswitch surrendered that contract to Christian who had the match restarted. Cage then used Copeland’s finisher, a spear, to win the title back.
This makes Copeland a history maker in AEW, but not in a good way. The Canadian legend now holds the record for the shortest title reign in the history of the company.
AEW Worlds End 2023 proved to be a tough night at the office for Chris Jericho who was on the receiving end of some choice chants from the Long Island crowd.
In the fifth match of the show (and eighth match if you include the pre-show) Jericho was victorious in an eight-man tag-team match. The bout saw Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Sting and Darby Allin defeat AEW World Tag Team Champions Big Bill and Ricky Starks, and Konosuke Takeshita and Powerhouse Hobbs.
Chris Jericho Faces Chants
Jericho’s appearance at the show was something of a surprise, as some fans expected him to be pulled from AEW Worlds End. In the hours before the show, Jericho faced allegations of misconduct with wrestler Kylie Rae. Nick Hausman made mention of Jericho having skeletons in his closet, and Rae herself reacted with a heart to a post saying that Jericho is not a safe person to be around for young women in wrestling.
At this time, AEW President Tony Khan has yet to address the allegations against Jericho, who was the first-ever AEW World Champion. It is likely he will be asked about the matter during the post-Worlds End media scrum.
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins put CM Punk on notice at a recent live event, declaring that the Chicago-Made star only cares for himself.
At a recent WWE live event in Toronto, Canada, Seth Rollins retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Drew McIntyre in the show’s main event. After the match, Rollins couldn’t help but notice the CM Punk chants from the crowd and had some choice words about the ‘Best in the World’.
“What do y’all think, he’s going to pop through that curtain tonight? Na. He ain’t going to come tonight because, you know what, he doesn’t give a da*n about y’all. Hey, I’ve been honest, I’ve said this about CM Punk from day one. CM Punk only gives a damn about CM Punk. But hey, you know what? You’ve all paid your hard-earned money.”
This isn’t Rollins’ first time taking a swing at CM Punk at a live event. Click here to see how the World Champion brutally shut down a Punk chant at a previous event.
Former WWE Superstar Maven Huffman would likely be working for WWE today, if not for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maven joined WWE in 2001 after co-winning that year’s Tough Enough with Nidia Guenard. During his four years with the promotion, Maven would become a three-time Hardcore Champion and is well-remembered for eliminating The Undertaker from the 2002 Royal Rumble match.
A Return Ruined by COVID
A few years after his release, WWE offered him a chance to return, but Maven declined, citing that he had a steady job with the Home Shopping Network. On a recent video from his YouTube channel, Maven recalled a time years later when he was ready to come back.
“I reached out to D-Von and knowing D-Von still had a great relationship with the WWE, I reached out and I said ‘D-Von, I see a path forward I see an opportunity and I know I know I could work with the company.’ The company that I love the company that brought me into this business and I see my opportunity not as a wrestler, age wins but I see my opportunity with maybe announcing, maybe backstage interview segments.”
D-Von was able to put a good word in with WWE, who brought Maven to the Performance Center in Florida. The former Superstar went on to explain how his audition for the role went.
“Tom [Phillips] took me back into a room where they had several monitors set up. What they do with these monitors is they practice, they get themselves ready for live television and they get themselves ready by calling old matches. And that’s what we were going to do that day… He knew I was buddies with Matt Cardona so he actually pulled one of Matt’s and Brian’s old tag matches out just to help aid me with my comfort level. So we then spend the next few hours just calling different matches and he’s guiding me.”
Maven felt the audition went very well and was pleased to bump into some old colleagues, including WWE’s current Head of Talent, Triple H.
“I happened to bump into Hunter and it was good catching up with Hunter. He and I probably talked for a good two to three minutes, caught up… We didn’t talk even talk to business. We talked family and just how we’ve been, just on a personal level so it was good catching up with him.”
After Phillips gave his seal of approval, Maven was contacted with an offer, which the former Tough Enough alum was excited to accept.
“They say ‘Maven if you were given the opportunity to accept a job but we told you you had to move here and it would take you 6 to 12 months coming to this facility and just working by the monitors and just learning different matches is that’s something that you’re willing to do at this level and at this age? And I said ‘Absolutely! I’ll start packing tonight! Tell me when I’ll move here as soon as possible!’”
Maven felt on top of the world for about four hours as he envisioned his future as a WWE commentator. That was until he turned on the TV that night, and saw how the COVID-19 pandemic was changing sports and entertainment.
“I get to the hotel and then I see it. Flashing up on the TV screen and every hope that I had was dashed in a second and what did I see? Flashed up on the TV screen was ‘NBA to cancel their regular season.’
“March 11th 2020 the day that the entire world shut down… That job, it took second place because obviously, we started hearing about just what was going on obviously you heard about people getting sick and family members being lost my goal immediately turned into making it back to New York.
“Within a month the entire world was on lockdown. WWE programming would stop. Live Events, they would only do studio shows in that location. Studio shows that only required a few announcers. Announcers they already had.”
For the use of quotes, please give an H/T to SE Scoops.
Andrade El Idolo will be returning to WWE once his current contract with AEW expires, at least according to those within the Stamford promotion.
El Idolo joined AEW in June of 2021 and would make his in-ring debut for the promotion the following month. His debut for AEW came months after his release from WWE in March of that year. While WWE had initially declined Andrade’s request for a release, it was later granted.
Andrade Returning to WWE?
Some in WWE expect Andrade to return when the time is right, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported this week. Those close to Andrade have also said that he may very well go back to WWE, but is also open to staying if Tony Khan makes a better offer than WWE. Some have criticized AEW for underutilizing Andrade, who is yet to hold gold in the promotion.
Andrade would also like to work with New Japan Pro Wrestling if the possibility comes up. He would have wanted to do the FantasticaMania show in February but it conflicts with his schedule.
Andrade in WWE
Andrade joined AEW in November 2015 and made his in-ring debut the following January at a Tampa, Florida live event. In November 2017, Andrade defeated Drew McIntyre to capture the NXT Championship. After being called up to the main roster, Andrade captured the United States Championship in late 2019 from Rey Mysterio.
If Andrade does return to WWE, he will be able to spend more time with his wife Charlotte Flair. Andrade’s father-in-law Ric Flair recently said that he will be staying with AEW for years to come after Sting retires next year.
Andrade El Idolo may not have much time left in AEW. Click here to find out more.
Kiss’ profile was quietly removed from AEW’s roster page in September. Tony Khan confirmed at the post-All Out media scrum that Kiss had not been re-signed.
Fuego Del Sol
The masked wrestler announced his departure from AEW in June. He made his debut for the company in May 2020.
AQA
AQA was the first wrestler to be cut from AEW this year when her deal expired. She competed seven times.
Trench
Trench had been part of Swerve Strickland’s Mogul Affiliates faction but did not compete in any matches before his exit on July 3.
Zack Clayton
Zack Clayton’s departure from AEW was announced in October 2023. He is also known for his time on Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.
Brock Anderson
Anderson is the son of AEW producer and wrestling legend Arn Anderson and started with the promotion in 2021. His exit was confirmed in October.
The Bunny
The Bunny made her AEW debut at the Fyter Fest pay-per-view in June 2019, defeating Leva Bates in a dark match.
Vickie Guerrero
Guerrero announced that she was exiting AEW earlier this year. She had managed Nyla Rose and Marina Shafir.
Dana Massie
Massie was AEW’s Chief Marketing & Merchandising Officer and is the wife of AEW EVP and Young Buck Matt Jackson.
Rafael Morffi
Morffi was the Vice President of Live Events/Touring since the establishment of AEW. He previously worked for TNA Wrestling.
