Tag: WWE

AJ Styles Reportedly Set To Return To WWE SmackDown This Friday

This week’s “WWE SmackDown” promises to be a star-studded show, with Randy Orton now an official member of the blue brand, while CM Punk will be making his first “SmackDown” appearance in nine years. However, it appears that another former WWE Champion is also expected to turn up, as AJ Styles is set to return to television on Friday, according to Dave Meltzer on the latest “Wrestling Observer Radio.”

Styles was originally supposed to be back on television a couple weeks ago, but those plans ended up being scrapped. However, Styles is now back in the mix, with the veteran star returning just in time to kickstart the Road to WrestleMania. The “Phenomenal One” has been out of action since the start of September, written off after he was attacked backstage. That took him out of the Fastlane tag team match where he was originally set to team with John Cena, eventually being replaced by LA Knight.

Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso were the men responsible for his attack, therefore Styles could end up plugged back into that storyline working against The Bloodline, but that is unknown. Roman Reigns currently doesn’t have an opponent for the upcoming Royal Rumble, and while Orton has been discussed for that role, the creative team is also considering other ideas — possibly opening the door for Styles. It remains to be seen if Styles’ return will also lead to The Good Brothers coming back, which could help with the numbers game against The Bloodline. However, Luke Gallows has been on the sidelines after getting his knee scoped, so it will likely depend on his recovery.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE RAW Preview 12/4/2023

WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network from the MVP Arena in Albany, New York.

  • WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs. Jey Uso
  • Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn
  • Two Out of Three Falls: DIY (Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano) vs. Imperium (Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci)
  • Shayna Baszler vs. Nia Jax
  • Katana Chance & Kayden Carter vs. Tegan Nox & Natalya
  • The Creed Brothers (Brutus & Julius Creed) vs. Judgment Day’s Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh
  • Cody Rhodes to address Shinsuke Nakamura

Backstage News On Randy Orton’s WWE Contract Status

Fightful Select is reporting that after being out of action from WWE for a year and a half before returning to WWE at Survivor Series last weekend, he might end up sticking around for longer than originally expected.

Orton was teasing free agency for the first time in 2019, before ultimately putting pen-to-paper on a new five-year WWE contract at a time when the company was mass-signing several talents to long-term deals. One particular WWE source noted he would be surprised if the company didn’t extend Orton’s current deal.

The original WWE contract for Orton was scheduled to last until the Fall of 2024, which would put him around one-year remaining. After missing nearly 18 months, there is a strong possibility that WWE could add “injury time” to the deal, which would keep him locked up by the company until 2026. Having said that, it is not a guarantee that this is how things will play out.

There have been similar situations in the past where talents were injured but didn’t have time added to their existing contracts because they worked in other roles, or in some other capacity that involved company-related projects or efforts. It is believed that the situation with Orton right now is not like those, however, and that it is ultimately up to the company as to whether or not they go the former route or the latter.

Source: Rajah.com

WWE SmackDown Preview 12/1/2023

WWE SmackDown will air live tonight on FOX from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

  • Fallout From Survivor Series
  • Randy Orton to appear
  • WWE United States Champion Logan Paul to appear
  • Kevin Owens vs. Grayson Waller
  • Damage CTRL segment

WWE NXT Preview 11/28/2023

Tonight’s WWE NXT in Orlando, Florida at the Performance Center on the USA Network.

  • NXT North American Championship #1 Contender’s Match: Wes Lee vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Bronson Reed vs. Johnny Gargano
  • NXT Tag Team Championship: Tony D’Angelo and Stacks (c) vs. Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo
  • Andre Chase will break his silence
  • Iron Survivor Challenge Qualifying Match: Bron Breakker vs. Eddy Thorpe
  • Iron Survivor Challenge Qualifying Match: Kelani Jordan vs. Kiana James

Backstage WWE & AEW Reaction To CM Punk’s Return To WWE

CM Punk made his return to WWE this past Saturday at the Survivor Series: WarGames 2023 pay-per-view event.

Fightful Select has shared additional details on the backstage reaction of both WWE and AEW to Punk returning “home” at the pay-per-view event in Chicago, IL.

Several top WWE wrestlers are expecting to speak to officials in the company for “assurances” about Punk and his role in the company going forward.

The reaction backstage in WWE has been quite muted, similar to when Punk returned for AEW Collision.

There have been rumors about talents who do not wish to work with Punk and are considering leaving WWE.

Like AEW, however, there have been no reports of anyone actually requesting his/her release over Punk’s return to WWE.

Some top talent in WWE have reportedly asked friends in AEW whether Punk was involved in the ongoing Devil storyline. It has been reported that Punk was never considered for the Devil’s role.

As for AEW President Tony Khan, he reportedly seemed more concerned with losing Katsuyori Shibata, who had to fly back to Japan, than Punk’s WWE return.

Punk’s appearance was kept a top secret in WWE, although the former AEW World Champion either told or hinted to his very close friends that it was happening.

WWE is currently using renders from Punk’s previous stint with the company including the same Titantron video.

A source at Peacock suggested that the playlist of Punk content, which went online immediately after Survivor Series 2023, didn’t require any time to compile.

Prior to Punk’s return on Saturday, WWE talent and staff were advised to ignore any Punk chants at SmackDown and Survivor Series 2023.

Source: eWn

Details Behind Lawsuits WWE Facing Over UFC Merger, Endeavor Deal

It was reported yesterday that WWE investors filed a lawsuit challenging the promotion’s merger with UFC. The merger was completed in September under the name TKO Group Holdings after being announced following WrestleMania 39. In an update published by Bloomberg, the lawsuit claims that former WWE Chairman and current TKO Executive Chairman, Vince McMahon, used his “domineering personality” and majority stake at WWE to arrange an “unfair transaction.”

It’s also noted in the lawsuit that McMahon, who reinstated himself onto WWE’s board in January after retiring last summer amid sexual misconduct allegations, rebuffed higher offers to secure a deal with his longtime friend Ari Emanuel, the CEO of Endeavor and TKO, to keep himself involved with the Stamford, Connecticut-based promotion despite “stockholder discontent” and “government investigations.”

The suit also claims that Emanuel put forward a tentative offer to McMahon after the 78-year-old reached out to him following his return to the organization earlier this year. It’s said that Emanuel’s offer was entertained before other competing bids. It was described in the suit as a “sham sales process” to benefit Endeavor and shut out bidders who were looking to take McMahon out of the picture. Meanwhile, longtime wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer mentioned on the latest “Wrestling Observer Radio” that there is another lawsuit being filed by a WWE stockholder. Meltzer claimed that further details about that complaint would be revealed soon.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE RAW Preview 11/27/2023

WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

  • Fallout from Survivor Series: War Games
  • CM Punk who made his surprise return to WWE at Survivor Series is set to appear tonight.
  • Randy Orton who returned as a part of Team Cody for War Games also made his return after being out of action since May 2022 due to back surgery is likely to appear.
  • “Big” Bronson Reed vs. Ivar
  • Tag Team Turmoil Match to becomes No. 1 Contenders to The Judgment Day: The New Day, Alpha Academy, The Creed Brothers, #DIY, Imperium and Indus Sher

Backstage News On CM Punk’s Return To WWE At Survivor Series: War Games

CM Punk made a somewhat unexpected return to WWE at Survivor Series: War Games after a tumultuous near-decade long absence. PWInsider has more details on his Punk’s return as it played over the few weeks:

  • The agreement between WWE and Punk is believed to be “several years in length” according to company sources but despite previous reports, the two sides only began talking to each other over the last week.
  • Once the two sides began having conversations, the deal reportedly came together “rather quickly” and from WWE’s side, they are looking at it as a “new beginning” of a relationship between Punk and the company. The actual deal wasn’t hammered out until sometime yesterday, hours before Survivor Series.
  • WWE reportedly gave serious consideration to holding back Punk’s return until January’s Royal Rumble in Florida but the consensus feeling ended up being that the longer they waited to re-introduce him after signing him to a contract, the more likely it would become that word would spread backstage about their plans, leading to a higher chance that the news would be leaked, ruining the surprise.
  • The other consideration was of course that Survivor Series was in Chicago – Punk’s hometown – where he was guaranteed to get a huge ovation. After agreeing to terms on a new deal and because Punk lives only 20 minutes from the AllState Arena, the company was able to have him drive to the venue and sneak in at the very last minute for his end-of-show appearance.
  • The belief is that while be wrestling for WWE, he probably won’t be working a full-time schedule though this has not been confirmed by anyone.
  • Speculation has already started that WWE has its eyes on potential matches down the road which would see Punk wrestle the likes of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes and possibly even in the long-sought-after dream match against Stone Cold Steve Austin, likely at WrestleMania.
  • The locker room dynamic with Punk back in the fold is something that remains to be seen on how it will fold out and is also a situation that AEW will no doubt be looking at with some level of curiosity. If Punk returns to WWE and remains incident free, it would go some distance in silencing his critics who believe he is the source of a lot of backstage tension. However, if his WWE tenure is also riddled with controversies, it would be validation for AEW. Most wrestlers within WWE have already gone on record to state that if and when Punk returned to the promotion, they were ready and willing to “make money” by putting their differences aside in order to work with him.

Tony Khan Says He Can’t Legally Talk About CM Punk’s Return To WWE

After his departure from AEW due to a backstage altercation with Jack Perry at All In 2023, CM Punk made a shocking return to WWE following the main event of Saturday’s Survivor Series 2023 pay-per-view event.

Tony Khan recently did an interview with BBC West Midlands, where he was asked about Punk’s WWE return. The AEW President said,

“Can’t talk about that, nor do I think it’s the time or the place. But I appreciate you asking, and I’m very excited about AEW All In Wembley Stadium. Not to dodge or duck your question, it’s just not something I can legally talk about.“

Source: eWn