Here's your wrestling news for March 5th 2022
And your headlines for Afternoon include
Breaking News As Cody Rhodes Is Listed On Internal WWE WrestleMania Documents; WWE Creative Already Up to Speed!
“I Actually Retired” Brock Lesnar Drops A BOMBSHELL About His Decision!
Ronda Rousey's Submission Game And The Feud With Charlotte Flair!
WWE forgets their own history in Ronda Rousey vs Charlotte Flair storyline!
Are Wrestling Fans Buying Drew McIntyre’s Feud With Happy Corbin?
Thunder Rosa Denies Injury Reports & Will Compete At AEW Revolution
"Stop doing that" - WWE Hall of Famer Told Brock Lesnar Not To Do A Dangerous Move
Samoa Joe Would Love To Have A Match Against Jon Moxley!
Ricochet's Big Title Win On Smackdown And What It Means For Him! And More!
We’re kicking off today with Cody Rhodes, who is rumoured to be returning to WWE very soon.
Ever since he and Brandi left AEW, there were talk that Cody, but not his wife, would be returning to Vince McMahon’s promotion, and that still appears
to be the plan.
This week, it was reported that talks between Cody and McMahon had “fizzled out” but that’s not the case anymore.
When Ringside News asked about Cody’s situation, they were told that the former three-time TNT Champion is scheduled for WrestleMania according
to the internal show documents, and that this is what the most recent plan is for the two night event.
Ringside News were also told that no other information was available, so we can’t say whether he’s got a match booked for the
two-night event, or just an appearance, which would also be a huge deal for WWE. The fact that Cody Rhodes’ name is on the internal
documents for WrestleMania certainly seems like a sign that WWE is bringing him back, but we can never rule out plans changing in the chaotic WWE
and we’ll just have to keep our eyes on WrestleMania and possibly the biggest return to WWE in years.
It may be just a matter of days before Cody Rhodes is back on WWE programming, and their creative team are working hard to make that happen.
In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Meltzer writes that WWE's creative team have been tasked with coming up with ideas for Cody, and that despite what
others have said, Vince McMahon does not believe his talks with Rhodes have fizzled out. It's safe to say that Cody hasn't signed yet, as both
he and Brandi have been promoting the upcoming AEW Dynamite/Rampage taping happening this June in Detroit.
WWE had been hoping on Cody being back in time for Wrestlemania 38, which is now just 28 days away, and while the chances of that get slimmer by the day
WWE is seemingly still all in on bringing Cody back home.
In 2020, Drew McIntyre fulfilled an eleven-year promise by Vince McMahon when he captured his first WWE Championship.
McIntyre toppled Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36 without a crowd present to win the title, in what Lesnar believed would be his last ever match as a professional
wrestler. Speaking to the Michael Kay Show, Brock discussed his April 2020 loss, saying:
“When I was younger I thought, I wanna retire when I’m 40.”
“I actually retired when COVID hit and my contract was up in 2020. Full circle Brock Lesnar story, I had my first wrestling match in Minnesota was in a
garage with no people. 20 years later, had a WWE Title match at WrestleMania in a warehouse in front of no people. 20 years, full circle. I was
like ‘I’m out.'” Lesnar admitted that money, or as he put it “cha- ching” is what brought him out of retirement, and
discussed his new look since returning at Summerslam 2021: “My whole life I’ve been wearing a flat top, crew cut.
In UFC I grew my beard out once. I said I’m gonna let it all go (once I left WWE). Last summer, before any of this evolved, it was so hot, I said ‘I’m
gonna cut my hair,’ so my kids cut my hair. They said, ‘We’re going to give you a mohawk.’ Then they go, I bet you won’t wear a ponytail.’ I wasn’t gonna lose
a bet to my kids. So, I wore this look. It wasn’t a mastermind (plan), it was a joke. Here I am. Brock Lesnar is a big ass joke,”
Lesnar has been a regular on WWE TV since returning, and could make history this April by becoming WWE and Universal Champion,
but all of this may not have happened had the Beast Incarnate kept to his retirement in 2020.
Over to SmackDown, and for a WrestleMania main- event worthy match featuring two of WWE’s biggest ever female stars, the build towards Charlotte Flair
and Ronda Rousey this April has been undwehelming. Rousey’s story with Becky Lynch has been far
more entertaining, and it doesn’t help matters that WWE’s entire reasoning behind the Rousey- \Flair feud is objectively incorrect
The story of the feud is how The Baddest Woman on the Planet is seeking to be the "first-person" to make Flair tap out, which would be an impressive
accomplishment had Asuka not already having done so before. It was in June 2020 that the Empress of Tomorrow
tapped out Flair, and while we understand WWE tries to overlook the era of programming without fans, Asuka doesn’t deserve to be forgotten.
During this week’s broadcast, Rousey did get Flair to tap, though not in a match, after squashing Sonya Deville.
This marked Rousey’s first match on SmackDown, and after months of Deville abusing her power on the blue brand, fans were extremely happy to see
her get her comeuppance.
With that said, we can’t look past how this dominant display, and tapping out Flair has practically spoiled what WWE has planned for April 2nd.
WrestleMania Saturday is likely to end with Rousey as SmackDown Women’s Champion, and Charlotte Flair tapping out for the ‘first’ time in her career, again.
WrestleMania will see Drew McIntyre face Happy Corbin on WWE’s biggest event of the year, in an interesting decision by the company.
Its smart to keep McIntyre away from the world title picture while Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar are busy with each other, and Corbin is a fantastic foil
to Drew. One of WWE’s most loathed heels and a very safe worker, Corbin Vs. Drew is great on paper, but
fans have seen the two at each other’s throats for far too long. This week’s SmackDown saw McIntyre face his old
3MB buddy Jinder Mahal, and after getting the win, McIntyre sent a warning to his WrestleMania opponent.
The big problem is that this is getting monotonous, and something we’ve all seen plenty of over the past few months.
With WrestleMania so close, we can’t imagine what swerves WWE could introduce to keep this angle fresh, and we certainly hope this story ends in Texas.
Over to AEW now, as tomorrow night, Thunder Rosa will challenge AEW Women’s World Champion Britt Baker, in possibly the biggest challenge to the
DMD to date. Earlier this week, it was reported that Rosa had sustained an injury during Dynamite, with many
believing some kind of hamstring or thigh injury had been reaggrevated during the show.
Thunder Rosa did enter Dynamite with her leg taped up, and there’s even been rumors that her title match will need to be called off.
That won’t be happening, as Fightful report:
“On Friday, rumors circulated that Thunder Rosa had sustained an injury on this past week’s AEW Dynamite. Fightful reached out to Rosa and additional
AEW sources who vehemently denied that she was injured and said that the AEW Revolution match would continue as planned.”
Whatever reason Rosa had for wrapping up her leg this week, it won’t keep her from challenging for the AEW Women’s World Title tomorrow night,
and after their wild Lights Out match, this rematch is one fans have been hoping to see for a very long time
Back to WWE, as Brock Lesnar is a physical specimen in the ring, and is deceptively quick for a man his size.
In 2003, Lesnar performed a Shooting Star Press at WrestleMania 19, and admittedly nearly broke his neck in the process, but it was a move the Beast
had done countless times before. On the Michael Kay Show, Lesnar explained that high flying flips were a lot more common in his
moveset early on, before Curt Hennig told him he doesn’t need to do that, and encouraged him to stop.
Lesnar, listening to Mr. Perfect, toned his moveset down, and would go on to have an incredible career as a powerhouse, not a high-flyer.
This year, WWE parted ways with Samoa Joe once again, with his last match being his NXT title victory last August against Karrion Kross.
With Joe spending much of his main roster run out with an injury, WWE had been hesitant to let him wrestle, but the soon to be Ring of Honor Hall of Famer
does have plans to get back in the ring. On Busted Open Radio, Joe said that he’s never had a really clean crack at Jon Moxley, saying he’d
love to be in a program with the former AEW World Champion.
Joe recently made it clear that he’s not ruling out signing with AEW, and many believe the Samoan Submission Machine will ink a deal when the time is
is right. While AEW allows Moxley to compete in other promotions, meaning Joe doesn’t have to sign with
the promotion to work with him, it would certainly help his chances if he signed with Tony Khan, and we’re confident that the AEW President would love to
add Samoa Joe to his already-impressive roster.
And we’re ending today with Ricochet, and given what happened on SmackDown, its clear that the reports of a big push for him are true.
Meeting Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn on this week’s episode, Ricochet held his own in their title match, and thanks to a distraction by Johnny
Knoxville, got the win and the title. Ricochet’s win is the first time in nearly three years since he’s held a championship on WWE’s
main roster, and could not come at a better time for the One and Only. As for Zayn, his third title reign may have ended
abruptly but is paving the way for a massive celebrity match with Johnny Knoxville, who continues to impress fans with his antics.
Fans can now breathe a collective sigh of relief as the rumoured Knoxville-Zayn match at WrestleMania won’t be for the Intercontinental Championship
but this week’s SmackDown did wonders for everyone involved in the IC Title match.