Author: John Bass

AJ Lee Provides Updates On WOW – Women Of Wrestling

Former three-time WWE Divas Champion, AJ Lee, joined Freddie Prinze Jr. on this week’s Wrestling with Freddie podcast from iHeart Media’s My Cultra Network.

A hot topic that Freddie Prinze Jr. was keen to discuss was AJ’s involvement with WOW – Women of Wrestling. Lee is currently signed as an Executive Producer for the brand. She provided more details about when we can expect to see WOW in the future and what inspired her to join.

“So we’ll actually be shooting pretty soon, I think we’re maybe 60 days out, so it’s getting kinda close,” AJ Lee revealed. “We’re gonna be in syndication in the fall of 2022. Please check wowe.com for your local listings. It’s also on the CWC app and Pluto app. But you know, what really inspired me to join WOW, was the idea that it was women behind the scenes in every capacity and women in front of the camera in every capacity.

“And, to me, I love wrestling. I never stopped loving wrestling and this was the perfect way to rejoin the world of wrestling, but also combine it with what I’m doing now [as a writer] and what I have a passion for now. ”

AJ Lee also disclosed that she has had some offers to return to the ring, but ultimately, she felt the desire to compete again in the squared circle was absent.

“Wrestling opportunities have popped up over the years and I’ve just never been ready for that,” AJ said. “I’m not sure like physically that something like that the fires there, but the art of it, that’s always been there.”

It was announced that AJ Lee had signed with WOW in October 2021, alongside the promotion announcing that they had signed into a multi-year distribution agreement with ViacomCBS. Not only will AJ be working behind the scenes, but she will also be providing color commentary for the all-woman shows.

Source: Wrestling Inc. with credit to Wrestling with Freddie podcast

Nikkita Lyons To Make WWE NXT In-Ring Debut Next Week

Nikkita Lyons will also make her in-ring debut on next week’s NXT show. Formerly known as Faith Jeffries and Faith The Lioness, Lyons has been featured in recent vignettes to promote her arrival. Her character is that of the daughter to parents who were in the entertainment industry, and now she has a background of MMA and dancing/rapping. She noted in this week’s promo that the feeling of crushing a dance routine can only be compared to landing a knockout blow in the ring, and warned that she’s “a whole lotta woman who is ready to do a whole lotta whooping.”

https://twitter.com/WWENXT/status/1493777513436393475

New WWE NXT Show Coming Soon, WWE 205 Live Coming To An End

The new “WWE NXT: Level Up” series is scheduled to begin taping soon.

We’ve noted how there has been a WWE 205 Live re-branding in the works for a few months now, which is why more female Superstars and non-cruiserweight Superstars have been working the show as of late. WWE filed to trademark the “NXT: Level Up” name last week.

In an update, the WWE 205 Live series is finally coming to an end, according to PWInsider. The decision was made official earlier this week, but had been in the works for some time.

WWE was scheduled to tape the first “NXT: Level Up” episode last night at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, before the NXT Vengeance Day episode aired live. The episode is scheduled to be 60 minutes long.

WWE has been using NXT Superstar Joe Gacy as a storyline reason for the 205 Live changes. Gacy defeated Xyon Quinn last Friday night and promised that more changes to the show would be coming soon.

WWE officially announced last night during NXT Vengeance Day that NXT Level Up will debut this Friday night at 10pm on Peacock and the WWE Network.

The WWE 205 Live show originally debuted on November 29, 2016, airing on Tuesday nights before being moved to Fridays. WWE aired 269 episodes of the show.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Vince McMahon Reportedly Has Huge Plans For Cody Rhodes WWE Comeback

WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon is planning to give Cody Rhodes “a major match at WrestleMania” if Rhodes were to return to WWE, according to Wade Keller of PWTorch.

On his latest audio show, Keller noted how McMahon views Rhodes’ AEW exit “as a big deal” and wants to treat it accordingly.

“Cody and WWE haven’t confirmed it but Cody is going to WWE and he’s going to get a big push,” Keller said. “Vince McMahon is going to treat this as a big deal. Everybody I talked to thinks Vince loves the idea of acquiring a co-founder and EVP and, you know, main event wrestler. He just held their secondary singles title not that long ago, and having him show up on WWE TV is something that Vince is very interested in taking advantage of and making money on it. It could even be a situation where Cody is in a major match at WrestleMania.”

Keller said he had “four plus hours of conversations” with his sources within AEW and WWE, which led him to believe that Rhodes is expected to be on the WrestleMania 38 card.

“I fully expect Cody to be on WrestleMania either as a wrestler or making his first appearance,” Keller said. “I don’t know if they can hold back on putting him on TV so I could even see him appearing on Raw or SmackDown next week. I’m not aware of there being any kind of non-compete at this point since he’s been a free agent for a while so Cody could appear. I wouldn’t be shocked if there’s even some augmentation to the booking plans for WrestleMania perhaps related to the Elimination Chamber in order to set the stage for Cody to do something really big at WrestleMania.”

Keller continued, “I think Cody will get a big push, at least at first. You know, there’s different opinions on whether Vince is going to resent Cody for creating competition or admire Cody for his entrepreneurial spirit and being classy about it the whole way. You know, Paul Heyman, Eric Bischoff, Jeff Jarrett, they all competed with Vince [and] they all got jobs again. So, you know, we’ll, we’ll see how it goes. Vince saw Cody as a mid-carder. He saw Christian as a mid-carder. Christian went to Impact Wrestling and won a world title…He came back, he got a better push, but it wasn’t at the level of Edge, which is what, you know, Christian always wanted. He wanted to be at the Edge level.”

It is being widely reported that Cody Rhodes is in talks with WWE about a potential comeback. Since Rhodes is not under a non-compete clause with AEW, he is free to appear on WWE TV immediately.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Cody Rhodes Was Reportedly Upset With Tony Khan Over This particular Issue

Cody Rhodes had a few problems with AEW president Tony Khan before parting ways with the promotion.

Cody Rhodes has left AEW along with his wife Brandi, sending shock waves through the wrestling world. The former TNT Champion is now the hottest free agent in the business, and he has been heavily linked to WWE since the news of his departure broke.

It was initially reported that Rhodes and AEW president Tony Khan were at loggerheads over contractual issues but, according to Andrew Zarian, there were a few other incidents involving Tony that got under Cody’s skin.

One of those is rumored to be a video in which Khan implied AEW’s success was all down to him.

“Somebody sent me a link to a Forbes article and said, ‘This really upset certain people, especially Cody’. I don’t if that’s 100% true but this kind of plays into everything,” Zarian said on Wrestling Observer’s We’re Live Pal (H/T WrestleTalk.com).

“It was the Forbes video, the profile they did on Tony, and Tony starts it off by pretty much listing, ‘I’m the GM, I’m the booker, I’m the this, I’m the…’, essentially he’s a one-man show.”

It’s reported that Rhodes wasn’t the only one upset by Khan’s comments. Zarian added that there may have been a few other issues leading to Rhodes’ exit.

“I don’t know if that’s necessarily one of the things, but it was a multitude of things,” the wrestling insider continued.

Over the last few months, there have been reports citing various problems between Rhodes and the other AEW EVPs. Khan was also on the end of lots of criticism for his handling of certain issues, including Big Swole’s comments on her release.

Cody has since issued a statement on his departure in which he thanked Khan and several other AEW personalities.

“I loved my time at AEW. Amazing locker room. Amazing fans. Amazing people.” He wrote as part of said statement on social media, “The revolution was indeed televised, and I’ve been incredibly lucky to be part of that.” He added, “I have had so many milestones and beautiful memories of this renaissance… through sweat, blood, tears, literal fire, and all that… I left it all on the mat.”

Source: TheSportster

The Rock Teases WWE Return On Social Media

It appears The Rock plans to follow his Super Bowl LVI opener up with another electrifying promo.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson appears to have teased a return to WWE via a social media post.

The wrestling legend turned Hollywood star has some history with football and, though he never made it to the NFL, got last weekend’s Super Bowl LVI off to an electrifying start as he cut quite the promo to usher the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals out to the pitch.

Johnson’s promo included a few signature catchphrases, such as his “finally!” and “millions… and millions” of fans around the world bits. The latter would typically include a pause for the audience to respond – that pause wasn’t observed on Sunday, however.

Folks took notice of the absence and, after it was pointed out on social media, The Rock responded with claims that the pause is coming soon. Of course, WrestleMania 38 is around the corner, leading speculation The Great One could be part of the show.

https://twitter.com/TheRock/status/1493362359515054086

The Rock is just one of a few big names thought to be candidates for a WrestleMania appearance this year. The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer has noted that the actor will be pretty busy during the Show of Shows, but whatever happens on that front remains to be seen.

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Cody Rhodes are also rumored to be set for comebacks. It’s been reported that WWE is keen on having Austin present, as well as another legendary name on his level, while Kevin Owens is rumored to be the one he will face after K.O. cut a promo talking down Texas on Monday night.

Rhodes, meanwhile, parted ways with AEW this week and reports suggest Vince McMahon wants him back. The WWE chairman is also said to be intent on giving Rhodes a major push right away, which should include a WrestleMania match.

Source: TheSportster

WWE Planning Another Huge, Stone Cold-Level Surprise For WrestleMania 38 [Rumor]

WWE is reportedly keen on having another legendary name feature in the upcoming WrestleMania PPV.

WWE is reported to be planning to bring in another legend on the level of “Stone Cold” Steve for WrestleMania 38.

It’s believed that the Hall of Famer will be the subject of a shocking in-ring return for this year’s iteration of the Show of Shows, with Kevin Owens suspected to be his opponent for the major event.

According to Dave Meltzer (H/T Sportskeeda.com), WWE is working on having another legendary name feature when the event comes around, noting whoever it is will be of the same caliber as Austin. He pointed out that The Rock will be busy while John Cena also has other commitments.

The Wrestling Observer insider deduced it could be Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, or The Undertaker as those are the only other available names on the same level as Austin, though he wasn’t entirely sure.

WrestleMania 38 will be a two-night show, as it has been since 2020, and is set to air from the AT&T Stadium in Texas on April 2-3. Two matches have been confirmed for the time being and another will be by the end of Elimination Chamber this weekend.

Brock Lesnar will square off with Universal Champion Roman Reigns following his Royal Rumble win but could face a different opponent if Reigns loses his title to Goldberg at this weekend’s PPV.

Women’s Royal Rumble winner Royal Rumble winner Ronda Rousey will face Charlotte Flair. The pair will go at each other at Elimination Chamber as well, but as part of a tag team match. Rousey will partner up with Naomi against Flair and Sonya Deville.

Becky Lynch is yet to learn her opponent as that’s set to be decided by a six-woman affair inside the Elimination Chamber.

Source: TheSportster

WWE NXT Vengeance Day Preview 2/15/22

The 2022 WWE NXT Vengeance Day special will air live tonight from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

This week’s NXT will air on Syfy for the second straight week due to Winter Olympics coverage on the USA Network. NXT will return to USA next Tuesday night.

Backstage Talk On Why Cody Rhodes Left AEW, More On Cody – WWE

Regarding Cody and Brandi leaving AEW, word as of last Friday was that Cody wanted a big money deal, but several within the company didn’t think that a new deal was going to happen, according to Fightful Select. It was noted that Cody and Brandi have not been quite as connected to the AEW locker room in recent years as they were when AEW first launched, with word coming out that Cody had become distant from the other Executive Vice Presidents, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks.

It’s believed by some that Cody could be returning to WWE soon. It was noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that there was a lot of talk at Monday’s RAW about Rhodes possibly returning to his former employer, who he was with from 2006-2016. There is said to be chatter within certain WWE circles about Cody’s future with the company, but nothing is official as of this writing. Furthermore, Ariel Helwani reported that Rhodes and WWE are in talks about a return.

Shortly before AEW and Cody confirmed the departures today, WWE officials were aware of the situation and reportedly knew ahead of time that an announcement would be made, according to the Fightful report. It was noted that Rhodes and WWE have at least had discussions, but WWE did know that an announcement on Rhodes’ AEW departure would be made this morning.

There is no word on if Cody’s WWE return deal would include a spot on the roster for Brandi, or when we might see Rhodes return to the WWE ring.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Reportedly Talking With Cody Rhodes About Return

Earlier today Cody Rhodes confirmed that he and Brandi Rhodes have officially left AEW.

Now, according to a report by Ariel Helwani, it has been revealed he is in talks with WWE. The former Intercontinental Champion has been speaking with the company, and a return could be taking place in the near future.

Cody Rhodes originally left WWE in 2016 after spending a decade working for Vince McMahon. His career began with Ohio Valley Wrestling, and he went on to thrive as part of the main roster. From teaming with Hardcore Holly to being a member of Legacy. Cody then went on to have singles success with a variety of gimmicks before working with Goldust. His career came to end while portraying the Stardust gimmick.

Following his time with WWE, Cody Rhodes worked on the independent scene and as part of Ring Of Honor. He was an integral part of the influential ALL IN show and a founding member of All Elite Wrestling. Cody worked as an in-ring talent as well as an Executive Vice President for the company.

During his time working for Tony Khan, Cody was able to become a record three-time TNT Champion. However, his contract expired with AEW at the end of December, and since then he has been working under a handshake agreement. While the American Nightmare appeared on AEW Dynamite several times, he and his wife have now officially left the company.

Both Cody and Tony Khan have released official statements on social media about the news. Both men thanked each other for their time working together, and were complimentary, with no bad blood appearing to be involved.

Earlier today it was reported on the latest episode of the Wrestling Observer Radio, that there was talk backstage at Raw about Cody returning. This has now been further pushed by Helwani, as he was told that conversations have officially happened between the two parties.

Source: Wrestling Inc.