Here's your wrestling news for April 25th 2022
And your headlines for today include
More Heel and Face turns expected in WWE very soon! Vince McMahon feels Superstars are “miscast”
Raw Superstar says his career is “all downhill from here” after WrestleMania 38 appearance
WWE Hall of Famer explains why Stone Cold Steve Austin should wrestle part time
Daughter of WWE Hall of Famer questions why there isn’t a union in professional wrestling
Latest update to WWE 2K22 has dropped! What’s new with the game?
Former RAW Women’s Champion expected to return soon after nearly a year away
Latest on Mustafa Ali’s situation in WWE after being denied his release
New Japan President hailed as a hero for saving a girl’s life in Japan
Matt Cardona takes frankensteiner from a child at indie show And more!
We’re kicking off today with last Friday’s SmackDown, Xia Li made her long-awaited return to SmackDown, two months after her debut for the blue brand.
Saving Naomi from Shayna Baszler and Sonya Deville Li’s return quickly became a heel turn when she attacked the Glow, and that may be one of many turns fans see in the coming months.
According to our sources, Vince McMahon feels that many Superstars are being quote “miscast” right now, and that there are plans for multiple heels and face turns that will happen soon.
There’s no word yet on who could be turning either good or bad next, but Li’s turn comes days after Rhea Ripley turned heel on Monday Night Raw.
For years, fans have called out WWE for miscasting and misusing several Superstars, many of whom are now no longer employed by the company, but time will tell which remaining names will be
jumping from good to bad and vice versa in the coming weeks.
At WrestleMania 38, Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Kevin Owens in the main event of Night One, in front of a capacity crowd in Dallas, Texas.
After 19 years away, a match from the Rattlesnake is something many fans thought they’d never see, and Kevin Owens can’t see how things could possibly get better.
Speaking to Corey Graves on After the Bell, Owens discussed being Austin’s first opponent in nearly two decades, which he considers an all-time career high:
“It’s all downhill from here. I say that with the most optimistic point of view I can have really, I mean that in a good way. It was really unbelievable, it’s still unbelievable. Sometimes I’ll have my moments
where I’m not doing anything and I’m just sitting around, and I’ll pull it up on my phone and I’ll specifically watch the moment where the ref rings the bell. I still can’t’ believe it happened.”
A former Universal Champion who had an incredible career even before he stepped foot in a WWE ring, but no matter what comes next, it appears nothing can out-do headlining WrestleMania
against one of the all-time greats.
The main event of WrestleMania: Saturday proved to be a highlight of the weekend, with Austin even at his advanced age, doing incredibly well in the high-pressure environment.
After the match with Owens, the Texas Rattlesnake was reportedly very pleased, and has no plans on wrestling again, but there are some that are hoping he changes his mind.
Speaking on his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker discussed Austin’s match with Kevin Owens, and believes it should be more than a one-off for the Bionic Redneck. He said:
“I wouldn’t say just a WrestleMania guy or anything like that. Star power is everything. Saudi Arabia, to have ‘Stone Cold’ on that card right there? Boom, I’m sure the people over there
would love it, man. To see Austin in Cardiff, Wales? Man, that would be awesome because I’m sure the guys over
there haven’t seen him in such a long time. To see ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin live, up close, in person – that would just be a moment for those guys.”
Booker went on to say that Austin could be “the new Undertaker,” who shows up every so often and gets a huge pop from the crowd.
The problem here, is that most of The Undertaker’s last matches were bad, which led the Deadman to continue to have more and more declining matches in the search of a match worthy of
ending his career on.
For Austin, his WrestleMania 38 match was excellent and one that he could certainly end his in-ring career on, but according to Booker, there’s still more to do with the WWE Hall of Famer.
Now, in wrestling, the topic of unions has always been a hot button issue, especially given the risks that wrestlers put themselves in every time they step foot in the ring.
While other professions have unions to protect their rights and get them the best deals, there’s no such thing in wrestling, but that’s not for a lack of trying by several wrestlers.
In the 80s, Jesse Ventura held a talent meeting among WWF Superstars to try and band together as a union, and nearly lost his job over his actions.
Last weekend, Brooke Hogan of all people shared her interest in a wrestling union, and during an interview, said that she had spoken to Brittany Page, the daughter of Diamond Dallas Page to discuss why
there isn’t a union
When the interviewer insinuated that her father Hulk Hogan is a big part of why there isn’t a union, Brooke cut him off, saying she has no idea who or what he is referring to.
It’s no secret that the Hulkster’s backstage politics influenced many careers in wrestling, so perhaps he did put the kibosh on a possible union, and perhaps there will be a time when wrestlers are
guaranteed certain rights and protections like any other career.
Video game news next as WWE 2K22 has proven to be a hit with fans, especially after the abysmal release of 2k20 in late 2019.
Like many games, WWE 2K22 is subject to patches and updates to tidy up the game after being released, but in the latest patch this past Tuesday, fans got some new versions of iconic Superstars.
This latest update includes a much younger looking Roman Reigns, 90s version of Hulk Hogan, and an alternative Asuka from before she used green makeup as part of her look.
This all comes just before the Banzai DLC pack, which will be available tomorrow and will include Yokozuna, Umaga, Rikishi, Omos and Kacy Catanzaro.
Before WWE 2K22 launched, it was said that it was a ‘make or break’ game, and a failure would’ve seen WWE end their working relationship with 2K, but if updates like these keep coming in, the two
sides will be in business for a long time to come
Back to the ring and it’s been nearly a year since fans last saw Asuka compete, with her most recent match being at Money in the Bank 2021.
Since then, there’s been reports of her return, including ahead of the 2022 Women’s Royal Rumble, though that obviously never materialised, but now her return may be a matter of hours away.
Fightful Select reports that as of yesterday, the plan is for the Empress of Tomorrow to enter at least a “short term program” with Becky Lynch, and that this could start as soon as tonight’s Raw.
It was also noted that there have been numerous pitches from both the talent and creative about how to bring her back.
After not appearing at the Royal Rumble, WWE officials were told to expect her to be back in the Spring, and it now seems to be finally happening.
After 281 days off WWE TV, the return of Asuka is something a lot of fans have been looking forward to for a very long time, and hopefully she’ll be booked well should she return on tonight’s show.
Asuka isn’t the only absent Superstar who may be ready to make a comeback, as Mustafa Ali could soon be heading back to WWE TV.
The last time fans saw Ali was in October, and after a backstage argument over his creative booking with Vince McMahon, Ali requested his release, which was promptly denied.
WWE was seemingly happy for Ali to wait out the rest of his WWE contract away from TV, but in an update from Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, it’s noted that there have been internal discussions
about bringing him back to TV.
Like Asuka, the report adds that Ali could be back as soon as tonight’s Raw, despite previously being a SmackDown Superstar before he was pulled from Television.
This all hinges on whether Ali agrees to appear, as in theory he could refuse to show up, leaving WWE in the awkward position of possibly firing him, which is what he wants anyway.
Earlier this month, Ali teased having a match with Cody Rhodes, saying it would be the American Nightmare Vs. A Real American Nightmare, and we’ll just have to wait and see if that match does
happen, should the former Retribution leader be brought back to the company’s programming
Now, last week, New Japan Pro Wrestling President Takami Ohbari visited the U.S. to appear at Windy City Riot and AEW Dynamite, in which he appeared during the announcement
of the AEW-New Japan Forbidden Door Supershow.
It turns out that Ohnari did much more than just appear at wrestling events however as he is being hailed as a hero for his actions upon returning to Japan.
In a post that has been translated from Japan, Ohbari writes that he was waiting for a train, when he saw a young girl fall between the train and the platform.
The girl was lying face down and in Ohbari’s own words “could barely stand,” and the New Japan president sprung into action, working with the girl’s mother to get her off the tracks.
Ohbari said that his height proved to be very useful in rescuing the girl, and that even after what happened, his heart was racing from what he and the mother did.
This was a true act of heroism, and the girl could’ve been killed had Takami Ohbari not help out, and we want to commend the New Japan President for his incredible bravery.
And we’re ending today with Matt Cardona, who recently captured his seven title to his impressive collection of championships.
After being released following years as a jobber, Cardona has certainly proved himself in his two years away from WWE, but he’s still not opposed to looking like a fool in the ring.
During a match against Indie veteran Josh Prohibition at an AIW show this past weekend, Cardona was ready to lay out his opponent with a steel chair, and would have done so had
Prohibition’s daughter not got in the ring.
Proving himself to be a heel, the former Broski was ready to set up the child for a powerbomb, but the move was reversed and the girl hit an impressive frankensteiner for her age.
On Twitter, Cardona spoke about a “fan illegally jumping the guard rail” and said he will be pressing charges after being ‘ assaulted’ and while Josh Prohibition wouldn’t win the match,
this all made for a cool moment for the father-daughter duo.