Here's your wrestling news for April 6th 2022
And your headlines for today include
Samoa Joe Match Announced For AEW Dynamite This Week!
Interesting Last-Minute Details Concerning Bron Breakker’s WWE NXT Title Win!
Ronda Rousey Faces MAJOR Embarrassment; Referred To As A “ Joke “
Cody Rhodes Says He Felt He And Tony Khan \Were “Drifting Apart”!
What Happened With Brock Lesnar Immediately After WrestleMania 38?
Tony Khan Blasted For Wasting All Of Jay Lethal’s Potential!
WWE Passed On Several WrestleMania Pitches For Bayley!
Kimber Lee Called Out For Lying About Allegations Of Abuse Against Nash Carter!
Backstage Rumor on Why The Miz Turned on Logan Paul at WWE WrestleMania 38! And More!
We’re kicking off today with AEW, as tonight’s episode will mark the first time that Samoa Joe will be on the company’s programming, and he isn’t wasting his time with getting
in the ring.
It’s been announced by Tony Khan that Joe will face Max Caster of the Acclaimed tonight in a qualifying match for the Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament.
This will mark Joe’s first match at all since NXT TakeOver 36 in August 2021, and his second match in over two years, and after so long away from the ring, we’ll have to see how
he deals with Caster during tonight’s broadcast.
Over to Raw, which saw Bron Breakker regain the NXT Championship from Dolph Ziggler, making history as the first man to win the NXT title on the main roster.
After losing the NXT Championship to Ziggler a few weeks ago, it was reported that WWE was setting up a Breakker title victory on a much bigger stage, but that may not have
been the Raw after WrestleMania. On Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alverez suggested that the title change was a last-minute
decision by WWE, as throughout the show, and after, they aired commercials for NXT 2.0 in which Ziggler was promoted as champion.
Alverez also said that the ads were especially odd as they promoted NXT as happening that night, i.e. Monday, when this week’s show aired as normal on Tuesday.
On last night’s show, Breakker appeared, but his father Rick Steiner was kidnapped by Joe Gacy, and time will tell how this latest reign goes for the second generation Superstar.
In January, Ronda Rousey returned to WWE to win the Women’s Royal Rumble match, after having a dominant rookie year from 2018-2019.
Before coming to the company, Rousey was a huge star of UFC, but left the company following back to back losses in 2016.
Before those losses, Rousey was considered one of the biggest draws and best stars in UFC, but in an interview with the MMA Hour this week, Women’s Bantamweight Champion
Julianna Pena trashed Rousey’s legacy: “Ronda is so old news, right?... she got knocked out twice and never came back. So how legit is
she…she’s kind of a joke in the MMA world now, because she’s a — what is the word? — sellout. Like, a little bit of a sellout there. I mean, I guess I understand, right? Wrestling
is fake and you get paid millions of dollars.” Pena ended her attack by saying that she’ll gladly face the WWE Superstar in the Octagon if she
ever wants to fight again, but after nearly 6 years away and a thriving pro-wrestling career, don’t expect to see this fight ever take place.
WrestleMania 38 didn’t go as Rousey had hoped, as she lost her second match in WWE ever, but the April 2nd event did see the return of Cody Rhodes, mere weeks after announcing
departure from AEW. While Rhodes’ return was a well-known secret, it was still a huge moment for everyone
involved, especially considering how loyal he was to AEW. Speaking to BT Sport this week, Rhodes discussed his decision to leave the promotion he
founded, saying he didn’t want to be seen as a ‘gatekeeper’ who new stars had to first feud with before really making it on the roster.
Addressing the stipulation that he couldn’t challenge for the AEW World title, Rhodes said that he had noting else to accomplish in AEW, other than be a 15-time TNT Champion,
which would be an impressive stat but one he didn’t need.
Since leaving, both Khan and Rhodes have said that a personal matter” was a factor in his decision to leave, but neither have gone into detail as to what that matter is.
In this interview, Rhodes again refused to go into details, but said that he has genuine respect for Khan, even though it felt like they were quote “drifting apart” in the latter
weeks of AEW. Speaking about his relationship with others in AEW, Rhodes said he has nothing but love for the
the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega, refuting reports \of tensions between the Executive Vice Presidents.
Rhodes ended his interview by saying he hopes that the others don’t sit in circles and hate on him, but he can’t say for sure, but knows he won’t be doing that.
Cody has said that now he’s done with AEW, he isn’t looking for any kind of backstage management role in wrestling again, and it’ll be interesting to see how Cody Rhodes the
WWE Superstar fares now he’s back, and a much bigger star than ever before
On WrestleMania: Sunday, Brock Lesnar hoped to unify the WWE and Universal championships, but like countless names before him, the Beast Incarnate fell to Roman Reigns.
Lesnar’s defeat at the hands of the Tribal Chief solidified Reigns’ position as the unquestionable top name in WWE, and the former WWE Champion didn’t appear on t
this week’s Raw.
We now have learned that there was never any plans for Lesnar to appear on the red brand this week, as PW Insider reports:
“For those who have asked, Brock Lesnar was not backstage at Raw last night. We are told he flew back home almost immediately after Wrestlemania 38 concluded on Sunday.”
Flying back to his home in Canada, its unclear what Lesnar will do next, after being a semi-regular on-screen character since his return at Summerslam 2021.
Lesnar has reportedly been scheduled for both WrestleMania Backlash next month and Money in the Bank the month after, in what will no doubt be some high profile matches for
Lesnar, despite the setback at WrestleMania 38.
At AEW Full Gear 2021, Jay Lethal debuted for AEW, in a huge signing for the All-Elite promotion.
A huge name from TNA and Ring of Honor, even Jim Cornette couldn’t help but praise Tony Khan for the deal, while blasting WWE for letting AEW sign Lethal in the first place.
It appears that Cornette’s view has changed after the past few months though, as on his podcast, the controversial wrestling personality bashed Tony Khan for what he
believes is wasting Lethal’s potential: AEW has managed to waste literally all the potential Jay Lethal had on their main television
program. When they brought him in, signed him, had no plan whatsoever. Just put him on TV and beat him immediately, then disappeared him, then brought him
back and beat him a couple more times. Speaking about Lethal’s recent match with Jon Moxley, who was referred to as a “f***ing
plumber” Cornette said AEW has no idea what they’re doing, and will be sending him back to Ring of Honor.
He added that the fans in attendance are feeling sorry for Lethal, who they want to see do better than what AEW has given him so far.
It remains to be seen how Lethal’s recent heel turn goes for him, but despite a world of potential when he joined last year, Jim Cornette isn’t impressed by what fans have seen so far.
We’re heading back to 2021 now as WrestleMania 37 was WWE’s first event in over a year with live fans, who didn’t get to see a match with Bayley.
Despite being one of the company’s best and most reliable stars throughout the Performance Center/Thunderdome era, Bayley didn’t get a match, and was instead relegated to
one-off appearance featuring the Bella Twins. It turns out that this wasn’t WWE’s only option for the former SmackDown Women’s Champion
as according to Fightful Select, WWE had at one point hoped for Bayley to have some altercation with Becky Lynch at the show of show
Lynch had been absent for nearly a year at this point, and when asked at the time, said Bayley deserved a big moment.
That being said, Lynch also joked that WWE would need something bigger than the Role Model for her to return 0 1four months after giving birth.
Lynch wasn’t the only idea pitched, as writers also considered having Bayley co-host WrestleMania 37 with alongside Hulk Hogan and Titus O’Neil as well as ideas for her to
host a Mania edition of her talk-show Ding Dong Hello.
While WWE reportedly always saw value in Bayley, these ideas were passed on, and she’s yet to be cleared after suffering an ankle injury last year.
This ankle injury forced Bayley to miss appearing at this year’s WrestleMania, so perhaps WrestleMania 39 will be Bayley’s chance to shine on the grandest stage of them all.
For the past week, NXT Superstar Nash Carter has faced accusations of abuse by his wife and fellow wrestler Kimber Lee.
These accusations came out ahead of Carter’s appearance at NXT Stand and Deliver, and yesterday we reported on the photos which Lee claims proves her husband’s alleged actions.
Now, Lee has got a response from the wife of Wes Lee, Carter’s tag team partner, and has given more information on the situation.
Wes’ wife, who goes by Queen E. Marie on social media, tweeted that Nash has been living with her and Wes for months, ever since Lee allegedly checked herself into hospital.
She added that it’s Nash who has been the victim of abuse, albeit mental abuse and not physical as Le has claimed, and said that Nash has been trying to avoid her after going
to one therapy session together. Marie also shared a screenshot of Lee’s profile which showed that the Impact star had blocked
her on Twitter, and questioned if Lee will try and stop her from revealing anything else.
In subsequent tweets, Marie said that her close friend is “being dragged under the bus” for something she claims he didn’t do, which is why she’s speaking out in his defence.
Marie later posted a photo of herself with Nash and Lee at their wedding, in case anyone doubted that she knew the couple closely.
This is a very messy situation, and Lee has now shared a disturbing photo of her husband, in which Nash Carter can be seen giving a Nazi salute with a moustache resembling Adolf Hitler.
Saying that this Is “the kind of person” Nash Carter is, Lee added that both he and his family have made countless anti LGBTQIA+ remarks, but that she’s kept quiet due to mental abuse.
Nash Carter hasn’t publicly addressed these allegations and neither have WWE, but this situation continues to get messy and we can only hope for a peaceful resolution soon.
And we’re ending today with WrestleMania 38, as Logan Paul teamed with The Miz to defeat The Mysterios last Saturday, but the night did not go well for the Boxing YouTuber.
After the match, Paul was attacked by Miz, who laid him out with a Skull Crushing Finale, but Paul wasn’t around on this week’s post-Mania Raw.
On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer explained why this betrayal happened, saying that when Paul signed a deal with WWE to do the angle, both sides agreed
that the YouTuber would be a babyface once the angle is over.
Miz betraying Paul certainly seems like the start of a feud between the two, but there’s been no word yet on when, if ever, Paul will return to the company.
After beating the Mysterios at WrestleMania and plenty of controversy before stepping foot in WWE, it may be difficult for the company to push Logan Paul as a good guy,
that won’t stop WWE when Paul eventually returns.