Styles goes to the top rope but now Damian Priest is walking down the entrance ramp. Priest points out he’s not yet at ringside but Finn Balor is right behind and the two brawl into the ring and back out to ringside.
In the confusion, a masked individual pulls Styles off the top rope. Edge locks on the cross face. Edge turns it into a sleeper hold on the mat and the referee calls for the bell.
The masked individual steps into the ring and kneels before Edge before unmasking to reveal it’s Rhea Ripley, sporting a darker hair color.
“I QUIT” MATCH FOR THE WWE SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP Ronda Rousey defeated Charlotte Flair (c) (**TITLE CHANGE**)
Madcap Moss defeated Happy Corbin
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns & SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos (Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso) defeated Drew McIntyre & Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro (Randy Orton & Riddle)
“I QUIT” MATCH FOR THE WWE SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair (c)
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns & SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos (Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso) vs. Drew McIntyre & RAW Tag Team Champions RK-Bro (Randy Orton & Riddle)
Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins
AJ Styles vs. Edge Damian Priest is banned from ringside.
During the latest edition of his “Wrestling With Freddie” podcast, the former WWE creative team writer announced that he’ll be starting a pro wrestling company in the near future and has plans to bring things “back to basics.”
Actor Freddie Prinze Jr. is looking to start his own pro wrestling promotion in the next 18 months and he wants his wrestlers to become members of the Screen Actors Guild so they get insurance retirement and medical coverage. Says he has enough funding to run profit free for at least three years while he gets his promotion off the ground.
Tessa Blanchard may be done with WOW Wrestling after a reported falling out between the two sides.
What many deemed to be inevitable seems to have happened. According to a report by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightflul, WOW talent have claimed to Fightful Select that Tessa Blanchard recently had a falling out with the company and her status with the promotion going forward is uncertain.
Ironically, when WOW Wrestling announced that Blanchard was going to be part of their upstart promotion, something that was seen by fans and insiders as both a huge get, but also a risk, they quickly promoted a t-shirt design with the word “nuclear” on it. The hint was that Blanchard had nuclear heat with all the big wrestling promotions and that she was unhireable. WOW was going to take a chance and make her a big part of their plans. It appears to have backfired.
After she deactivated her social media account, reports are that a fallout occurred between the two parties. As a result, her status for this week’s tapings is unclear and if she doesn’t appear, it will indicate that she might be done with the promotion. Much of what is going on backstage is being kept tight-lipped and because those who work for WOW signed a non-disclosure agreement there isn’t a lot of detail forthcoming. What is believed to be the situation is that Blanchard might have seen herself as someone with more power than she actually has and that could have been the root of the issue.
One source alleges that Blanchard tore into wrestler Samantha Sage during an acting class and other talents spoke up about how uncomfortable it was. The acting classes were canceled from that point until further notice and Blanchard’s involvement was apparently decreased. Another source suggested that Blanchard is no longer a trainer in the promotion, her role being given to Selina Majors. Many think that Blanchard is gone from WOW and an announcement will follow.
Social media has been flooded with comments about the news, many people suggesting no one has dropped the ball more with her career than Blanchard has. Despite being given multiple opportunities and having a ton of natural talent, she can’t seem to stop herself from being her own worst enemy. Attitude issues, problems with other talents and allegations of prejudice have followed her around for the past few years.
The show ended with two hooded figures staring down an unsuspecting Bron Breakker.
NXT TV special Spring Breakin’ took place on Tuesday night. Cameron Grimes kicked things off by successfully defending the North American Title, and Nikkita Lyons and Cora Jade successfully saw off Natalya and Lash Legend. The show ended with Bron Breakker defending the NXT Title against Joe Gacy, a match that ended with the title still around the second-generation star’s waist.
After the match, Gacy was on his knees in the corner as two hooded figures in red masks stepped up onto the apron. However, it was at that point this week’s NXT 2.0 came to an abrupt end. If you went to bed wondering if that was intentional, no, it wasn’t. There was a whole segment planned after that, but the show clearly overran and it wasn’t shown on USA.
Instead, WWE had to settle for posting the footage on Twitter, which you can check out below. The clip begins with the hooded figures who were watching from around the arena descending on the ring and attacking Breakker with a steel chair. The two anonymous people in red masks then proceed to put the boots to the NXT Champion.
Gacy then directs the two of them as they remove a barbed wire-clad stretcher from under the ring and proceed to place Breakker onto it. The pair then slowly carries the champ out of the arena as the clip fades to black. That’s presumably where WWE actually planned on ending this week’s broadcast, more than 90 seconds after the USA feed was cut which resulted in a rather jarring end to the show.
That ending implies the issues between Breakker and Gacy aren’t over.
The rumor mill was really working overtime ahead of this week’s Raw. First, news that Asuka would be making an appearance on WWE TV for the first time since last summer, and then the even more surprising news that Mustafa Ali would also be making an appearance. Turns out both of those rumors were true as Ali and Asuka returned for pretty major segments on Monday night.
They weren’t the only two Superstars making their WWE returns last night either. Becky Lynch also showed her face on Raw for the first time since losing the Raw Women’s Title at WrestleMania. It was while Big Time Becks was vowing revenge against The EST of WWE that Asuka’s music hit. The Empress let Lynch know no one is ready for Asuka, and a physical altercation that began with Asuka flicking Lynch’s nose ended when the latter rolled out of the ring.
While Asuka’s return has been on the cards for a while, most fans likely assumed we would never see Ali in a WWE ring again, at least not anytime soon. Ali interrupted a Miz TV segment involving Theory at which point he was predictably berated for going missing for the past six months. Ali questioned whether Theory would be bringing back the US Title open challenge, at which point he declined to face Ali in a match.
Miz and Ali continued to go back and forth until Theory used his pull with the boss to book the two of them in a match. The match ended with Ali winning via a rollup, at which point The A-Lister told Ali he’ll make him wish he got his walking papers. This is a reference to Ali being denied his request to be released by WWE back in January of this year. Ali was brought right back down to Earth when Ciampa rushed him on the ramp, standing over him to end the segment.
With less than two weeks to go until WrestleMania Backlash, both Ali and Asuka’s returns appears to be set ups for potential matches on the premium live event card. The card is arguably in need of some fresh faces since right now, three of the five matches announced are WrestleMania rematches.
Bray Wyatt (Windham Rotunda) is reportedly seeking a lot of money for his next wrestling contract. Wyatt was released from his WWE deal last summer.
Any company that wants to sign former WWE superstar Bray Wyatt will have to be willing to meet an apparently high asking price.
In a major surprise, Wyatt was released from his WWE contract on July 31 of last year. The former WWE and Universal Champion has not appeared in the wrestling industry ever since, and it’s really anybody’s guess if or when the soon-to-be 35-year-old willl land with another promotion.
On Tuesday afternon, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter sent out the following tweet:
I know it's my site, but WWE would be interested in almost any top AEW act right now. Also, AEW would be interested in virtually any WWE top act right now. https://t.co/LMVdSEkpb7
A fan responding to the tweet asked about Bray Wyatt. In response, Meltzer stated that Wyatt’s “asking price is very high:
Wyatt’s 90-day non-compete clause expired in October, so he’s been free to sign with another wrestling promotion for almost six months now. But here were are nearly four months through 2022, and the longtime wrestling fan favorite remains unsigned. Wyatt did say in a recent Q&A on Instagram that he is keen on eventually returning to wrestling.
Former WWE superstars Braun Strowman (Wyatt’s longtime ally in The Wyatt Family) and EC3 recently launched a new wrestling promotion called “Control Your Narrative.” EC3 recently stated that Wyatt is “taking time away from wrestling”, though the former noted that he’d like to work with the former WWE Champion.
Wyatt wrestled his final match for WWE at day two of WrestleMania 37 weekend in Tampa Bay, Florida. He continued his program with Randy Orton but lost to The Viper via pinfall after Alexa Bliss betrayed Wyatt. On the post-WrestleMania edition of Raw, Wyatt stated in a “Firefly Fun House” segment that he was looking for a fresh start.
Less than four months later, WWE would unexpectedly release Wyatt from his contract. In late 2021, Wyatt started working on a film project with close friend Jason Baker; who also worked with him in WWE. Baker revealed in February that their movie project was “coming along.”
Roberts was speaking on the latest episode of the DDP Snake Pit podcast when he discussed the infamous incident that saw him hit Steamboat with a DDT on concrete in 1986. He went on to disclose that Steamboat is having trouble with his health but did not provide further details.
“To be quite honest with you, I know Steamboat’s having issues right now,” he was quoted as saying by Wrestling Inc. “I hope to hell it wasn’t what I did. I really do man, because that haunts me. That’s beginning to haunt me a lot. Ricky, if you’re listening, you know I never meant to do that. I didn’t want to do that. I begged you not to do that. I just pray for you man. He’s a good dude man.”
Steamboat had to be hospitalized 12 years ago following an injury angle in which he was assaulted by The Nexus during an episode of Monday Night Raw. He was reported to have suffered from brain bleeding after a capillary burst.
He made an appearance for MLW recently, showing up at their SuperFight event in Charlotte in February.
A decorated wrestler with promotions such as WCW and Jim Crockett Productions, Steamboat was a one-time Intercontinental Champion with WWE. He was inducted into the latter’s Hall of Fame in 2009.
Steamboat has worked as a trainer with NXT and was also part of the talent relations department alongside Triple H until 2013, when his son Richie Steamboat was released. He transitioned to an ambassador later.
The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) joined SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio for an hour-long discussion.
Karl Anderson reflected on the night they were the headline dark match at Madison Square Garden with WWE in September 2019. After the bout, there was an in-ring segment involving “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and AJ Styles, which resulted in Styles asking Anderson if he should drink the beer handed to him.
“When we got to do The Garden and the dark main event — this is a good story,” Anderson said. “We’re in there with ‘Stone Cold; Steve Austin, me, Gallows, and AJ [Styles]. ‘Stone Cold’ hands AJ a beer. AJ doesn’t drink, and AJ looks at us and AJ goes, ‘shall I drink this?’ and I go, ‘yeah, just have a sip.’ He takes the sip, he takes the Stunner, and people react. We get to the back and he looks at us and he goes, ‘you guys lied to me. That is the worst thing I’ve ever tasted in my life! How do y’all drink those things?’”
Luke Gallows discussed the Boneyard Match between AJ Styles and The Undertaker at WrestleMania 36. Gallows noted The Deadman cut open his arm when smashing the window of the hearse. It resulted in filming being stopped every few minutes to attend to the wound.
“I remember at the time, I remember us saying – because AJ was our best buddy, like, it’s hard not to be in a stadium with a match like that,” Gallows said. “They wanted that. They deserved 80,000 people and they didn’t have it. So everyone made the best of a rotten situation and the match was cool as sh*t, I thought.
“You talk about an old-school badass dude too at the very beginning of that, because it took all night to shoot it. He punches the window out of the hearse, right? And his arm is bleeding profusely. You can see tendons. A lot of people – Karl would have quit. I mean every fifteen minutes we would stop, ice, towel, hold it on to get the bleeding to stop. Alright, let’s start going. For 8-9 hours just bleeding.”
Source: Wrestling Inc – credit SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio
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