In this WrestleTalk News, IT’S WRESTLEMANIA WEEK, BABY - WOOO!
Which means loads of major Mania rumours, loads of major post-Mania rumours, a hopefully
positive update on Bray Wyatt and more.
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Happy Wrestling New Year, everyone - because WrestleMania 39 is taking place this weekend,
still on two nights, culminating the last year’s worth of storylines, setting the
stage for new characters and narrative to be set up, and, of course, inevitably, weirdly
just having the midpoint of some feuds.
Make no mistake about it, we will get at least three more Edge vs Finn Balor matches.
Some of these reports and rumours will potentially be spoilers for WrestleMania and the immediate
direction of WWE following it, so consider yourself warned… and you’ll shout nasty
things in the comments section at me anyway.
The Spoiler Room Brawl begins in 3… 2… 1…
Numerous big name WWE stars who have recently been missing due to injury are all possible
returns for the next couple of weeks.
Either at Mania itself, or the following episodes of Raw and SmackDown.
WrestleVotes told GiveMeSport that Randy Orton, who has been off WWE TV since May 2022 with
a back injury so serious at one point it was feared he would have to retire, wants to make
his return at WrestleMania 39.
It’s not 100% confirmed, but he will reportedly at the very least be in town for the show.
Which brings up the similarly missing tag team partner he left: Matt Riddle.
Riddle has been missing from WWE TV since December 2022, where it was reported he was
suspended for 60 days due to failing WWE’s Wellness Policy for a second time, prompting
him to enter rehab.
The Wrestling Observer writes he’ll also be in town for WrestleMania weekend.
If I was booking RKBro’s return, I’d save it for the Raw or SmackDown after Mania when
the new tag team champions of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn issue an open challenge.
The Wrestling Observer is also reporting that AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura and Big E are
all possible surprise appearances for Mania.
Styles broke his ankle back in January, while Big E broke his neck last March.
Nakamura has just not been used on TV.
Of all the reported names, though, the one I’m most excited for is Tomasso Ciampa.
Ciampa underwent hip surgery in September, meaning he never got to fully interact onscreen
with his storied frenemy Johnny Gargano on the main roster - who had returned the previous
month.
Gargano recently did an interview with Catch Club, where he said him and Ciampa “will
always be linked together” and that “There was always that idea of what would happen
if DIY was on Raw and SmackDown, the amount of dream matches that could kind of that.”
This was followed up on by WRKD Wrestling, obligatory pinch of salt health warning, who
reposted that interview with their own report: “Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn aren’t the
only “Frenemies” reuniting.
There’s talks of Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa linking up on the main roster after
#WrestleMania with Gargano going as far as to say this during an interview this week.
#Smackdown” Just do the whole storyline from NXT again.
I don’t care that I’ve already seen it.
The next three years.
Just run it back.
Especially the best part: When they got called up as a tag team to the
main roster at the exact same time they were in the middle of the most violent blood feud
of modern wrestling.
All the names so far I’ve mentioned are wrestlers who are already with WWE, they’re
just currently out injured.
Boring, I know.
You want potential free agent returns!
Apart from the either much reported on already Matt Cardona, or the speculated for nearly
half a year now Sanity reunion, two interesting names have come up over the weekend.
Kairi Sane left WWE on very good terms back in 2020.
She wrestled for Stardom and became the inaugural IWGP Women’s Champion in New Japan.
She lost that title to Mercedes Mone, the former Sasha Banks in WWE, last month, and
it’s now been revealed her contract with the promotion has expired.
Kairi now just so happens to be a free agent at the time of year when free agents are most
in demand.
Through a translator, she told the Ten Count she “would like to go anywhere possible.
She would like to go to the U.S. if there's a chance to go back again.”
And that “Vince said the door is always open.
'You're always welcome to come back,' and if she comes back one day, she will team up
with Asuka again, and team up with IYO SKY or maybe even go up against IYO SKY.
Who knows."
It’s a shame Vince isn’t in charge of creative anymore.
There’s also the case of AEW star Brian Cage.
Despite looking like a mid-90s Rob Liefeld comic, Cage has been lost in the AEW shuffle
for almost two years now, and his contract reportedly expires at the end of the month.
Fightful Select write that he has signed a small extension, so he can work the Ring of
Honor Supercard of Honor show on Friday 31st March, as he is a current holder of the World
Six-Man Tag Team Championships with Toa Liona and Kaun as part of The Embassy.
Fightful add that AEW’s creative team have been focusing on Cage and his faction, and
are working on storylines for them following this Friday’s pay-per-view.
This could either mean he has already signed a new deal to stay, or they’re trying to
intrigue him with creative to convince him to re-sign.
Friday’s show will be very telling.
If he loses the belts to challengers AR Fox, Blake Christian and Metalik, it could be a
big clue he is bound for WWE.
But WrestleMania isn’t just about shock returns, debuts and inflated attendance figures…
and also wrestling, I guess…
This is the first full Triple H WrestleMania.
So it’s also mostly about entrances.
Yeah, my cool entrances in my Terminator costume on a motorbike, broom broom
Cody Rhodes, who is set to main event WrestleMania night 2 against Roman Reigns, has already
begun to tease his entrance, teasing a ‘record-setting’ amount of pyro.
And he’s also tweeted out a picture of what appears to be his custom weight belt for the
show.
It’ll be a magical moment for whichever kid he gives that to when he’s walking down
the ring.
And an even more magical moment for the 40 year old guy who buys it several years later
from them on Craigslist.
According to PWInsider, Edge is also planning something special for his WrestleMania entrance:
a vampire.
They’ve found out that Attitude Era star Gangrel is being flown into Los Angeles for
WrestleMania, where it’s speculated he’ll be part of Edge’s Hell in a Cell match entrance
- which pits his Brood character against Balor’s Demon.
But the involvement doesn’t stop there, as the report also teases talk of Gangrel
getting physical in the match, potentially in a sport against Judgement Day’s Damian
Priest.
Which means WWE’s booking of Priest over the years would have him fight both zombies
and vampires.
Next year they better bring back the Yeti!
Unfortunately, one of WWE’s most over characters Bray Wyatt is still up in the air for the
event.
Wyatt hasn’t been seen on WWE TV since the go-home episode of SmackDown ahead of Elimination
Chamber in February.
He had already started to build his WrestleMania match with Bobby Lashley, but after missing
the Madison Square Garden live event, it was revealed he was out of action for an undisclosed
illness.
One site writes that Wyatt’s status is still totally up in the air, and that the creative
team still hasn’t been told what will happen with the Bray vs Lashley match.
Bobby himself might know, though, as fan reports at last night’s WWE live event in Denver
have Lashley announcing he has no match for WrestleMania.
This follows WWE listing Bobby in the graphic for the annual Let’s Get Everyone on the
Card Memorial Battle Royal.
In a positive update - although accompany this report slamma with a slice of lemon and
pinch of salt - WRKD Wrestling has teased on Twitter:
“Keep an eye out for some glitches and QR codes this week.”
QR codes and glitches were, of course, a huge part of teasing Bray’s WWE return last October.
Make sure to subscribe to WrestleTalk not only for all the WrestleMania updates, but
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