Here's your wrestling news for March 8th 2022
And your headlines for today include
The Possible Reason RK-Bro Aren't Breaking Up Ahead Of WrestleMania 38
WWE’s Current Plan For Steve Austin At WrestleMania 38!
Omos' Underwhelming Road To WrestleMania!
Cain Velasquez Will Stay In Jail After Judge Denies Bail!
Edge's Masterful Character Work On RAW And The Implications!
Becky Lynch will miss Raw with a fractured voice box; Cuts A Promo After WWE RAW
Why WWE simply phoned it in with Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan?
CM Punk Takes Major Shot At WWE Hall Of Famer Goldberg!
WWE Makes Change To WrestleMania 38 Title Match, Match Set For WrestleMania Sunday!
WWE Current Relationship With 2K Games!
Vader To Be Inducted Into 2022 Class Of WWE Hall Of Fame! And More!
We’re kicking off today with RAW, and in the show’s opener, RK-Bro regained the RAW Tag Team Championships from Alpha Academy.
A fast-paced opener which also included Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins, this not only secured RK-Bro two tickets for the WrestleMania card,
but also revealed that plans for their break-up have been indefinitely postponed. While Riddle Vs. Orton seemed the obvious direction,
and a match WWE has reportedly put off before, that match won’t be happening, likely due to orton himself.
The Viper has said this is the most fun he’s had in his career, and during a promo even called Riddle his friend for the first time on TV.
In all likelihood, Orton has made a backstage push for him and Riddle to continue teaming, and it’s been a good call so far.
There’s no word yet on who the new champs will face at WrestleMania, but we know that the Street Profits beat RK-Bro last week and it’ll be interesting to see
how this all plays out.
WrestleMania 38 will certainly be WWE’s biggest event of the year, but despite initial reports, won’t see the in-ring return of Stone Cold Steve Austin.
It’s clear that Kevin Owens is set for some kind of altercation with the Rattlesnake, as he’s spent the past month insulting Texas, but we now have an
idea of what exactly is planned for the two, instead of a fully-fledged match. Ringside News was told that right now, the plan is
for Austin to appear on the KO Show Owens’ talk show, but that Vince McMahon is trying desperately to get him to do more.
It’s said that the two sides are negotiating, not just about money, but also about how this will affect Austin’s legacy, and whether he can deliver on
the level fans are hoping to see. On this week’s RAW, Owens closed the show by continuing his promos against the Lone Star state
and said he’ll have the most stupendous edition of The KO show at WrestleMania, but given the show will be in Texas, his guest has to be “some lowlife.”
Owens went on to name some of the Texans he could interview, including JBL, Booker T and Shawn Michaels, but ruled out HBK, saying it’d be
sacreligious and disrespectful to his fellow Canadian Bret Hart.
The former Universal Champion went on to say that there is one Texan he has in mind who’s right now quote “drinking beer like the redneck he is.”
Owens went on to say nothing would make him happier than to give this man a beatdown and a stunner fans would be talking about for years
and pour milk on his lifeless body. Saying that this man is watching, but doesn’t have the guts to show up, it was only at the end that
KO confirmed he’s talking about ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. The Cleveland crowd popped huge as Owens
dropped the mic, and with this being the first time the Prizefighter has called out Austin by name on RAW, something will almost certainly happen
between them this April.
This week’s RAW also saw a statement by Omos, who said he was tired of waiting for a WrestleMania opponent, and vowed to squash everyone
if that’s what it takes for him to get on the card next month. Squashing Apollo Crews with ease, Omos
and Commander Azeez had a staredown, and judging by the reaction of commentary, this is a dream-match that puts The Rock Vs. Steve Austin
to shame.
Instead of coming to blows, Omos laughed it off and walked away, but it seems as though we’ll be seeing the two giants battle at WrestleMania 38.
Two of WWE’s biggests, most lumbering men, Omos and Azeez also have relatively few matches compared to others on the main roster, so don’t expect
the two to get Match of the Year candidacy next month.
We’ve got news from the Cain Velasquez case next, as the former UFC Heavyweight Champions remains in jail after last Monday’s shooting in San Jose,
California. Last week, Velasquez allegedly shot a man when trying to shoot another man, who had been
previously charged with committing a lewd act with an underage relative of the UFC/WWE alum. In an update, Cain’s attorney Mark Geragos
appeared in front of judge Shelyna Brown yesterday to ask for bail, saying that granting bail would allow Velasquez the opportunity to return to his family
This request was denied by the judge, who said the “risk is too great” for public safety, and Velasquez was also present for the decision, donned
in a black and orange jumpsuit and shackles. Cain will have to remain in his cell until his next court date which is set for mid-April, and he
currently faces ten criminal charges, including attempted murder, related to the shooting. Court documents note that Cain rammed his t
truck into the car carrying the alleged molester and his family before allegedly opening fire, and fired several shots at the vehicle.
Several big names have come forth in support of Velasquez, with Ronda Rousey saying she would’ve done the same or worse in his situation.
For now, Velasquez will remain in his cell, and we’ll keep following this story for further updates.
Back to RAW, as Edge appeared last night and is all in on his new heel character.
While we’ve seen a villainous Edge before this new character is different to the heel who dominated from 2005-2010.
With a new look and new entrance, Edge proved why he’s a master of character work, and showed just how much of a gap there is between his
generation and the current generation of talent. A great in-ring worker who knows when it’s time to try something fresh, Edge’s change will only add
to the dream match with AJ Styles next month. The Rated-R Superstar may be back, but he seems even darker than the man fans knew a
decade ago, and perhaps it’ll be this version of Edge who captures World Championship gold after WrestleMania.
More from RAW now, as this week’s show was the latest event on the road to WrestleMania 38, but went on ahead without one of its top stars.
On Instagram, RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch broke the news before the show that she wouldn’t be appearing, claiming that her voice box
had been damaged during a WWE Live event match with Bianca Belair. Big Time Becks shared a photo from a hospital room,
where she was looking worse for wear, and later on Instagram, posted a video promo against the EST, despite her damaged voice box.
Never at a loss for words, Lynch fought through the pain to blame Belair, and claimed that she was spitting blood all over the arena in Allentown,
Pennsylvania. This was an impressive promo for the injured Lynch, and while the report of Belair being responsible
is part of her storyline with the EST, The Man is reportedly very legitimately hurt.
PW Insider were the ones to break the news that Lynch is hurting for real and is expected to miss about two weeks of action.
If that’s the case, then she should still be able to defend her RAW Women’s Title against Belair at WrestleMania Saturday, but this is only if there’s
no delays in her recovery. Simply put, an injury to Lynch is the last thing WWE needs right now, and will serve as a colossal
bump in the road to their biggest two-nights of the year.
Speaking of Championships, this week’s RAW saw Women’s Tag Team Champions Queen Zelina and Carmella face Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan,
and the match did the women’ tag division no favours. A tag team that is brand new, Ripley and Morgan
were able to defeat the champs, who in theory should be the absolute best Women’s tag team in all of WWE.
It gets clearer each week that no effort is put into these matches from a booking perspective, and the closest we got to a story Is that Carmella
flirted with her fiancé Corey Graves on the commentary table, leaving Vega to go it alone. We also question the decision for the faces,
Morgan and Ripley, to have a 2 on 1 advantage in this match, but perhaps we’re questioning the booking more than WWE’s bookers ever did
Whatever the reason, Ripley and Morgan made quick work of Vega, and with their win, earned a spot in the Women’s Tag Title match at
WrestleMania, which’ll now be a triple threat on April 3rd, also featuring Sasha Banks and Naomi.
To put it in perspective, none of these teams were teaming together 6 months ago, and the fact that two of these six women will soon be
determined the best Women’s tag team in the biggest wrestling promotion in the world shows just how little interest WWE has in this division.
In 2016, Goldberg made his return to WWE, after a 12-year absence, but his return hasn’t \exactly thrilled fans.
From squashing popular full-time talent to winning multiple world Championship, there’s no shortage of fans who aren’t pleased with Goldberg, but CM
Punk’s beef with him goes back much earlier than 2016. Speaking on the post Revolution scrum,
Punk reminded everyone that he's a huge Bret Hart fan, and called the Hitman's career ending thanks to Goldberg "a god damn tragedy."
In 2000, a WCW match between Bret and Goldberg saw the future Universal Champion give Hart a concussion with a stiff kick, one that Bret would
never recover from.
Punk went on to say that it should be the Hitman who should be competing twice a year in Saudi Arabia, instead of Goldberg.
Saying that he'd give the rest of his career to Bret Hart if he could, Punk is one of the Hitman's biggest fans, and we can only wonder how
Bret's career and life would've been had he not suffered that career-ending concussion from Goldberg.
This week, WWE 2K22 will finally hit shelves, a year and a half after the disastrous launch of WWE 2K20.
The Deluxe edition of the new game is playable right now, and many fans are optimistic that this new instalment in the franchise is the game fans
deserve. This game has a lot riding on it, as WWE 2K22 is being viewed as a “make or break title in the series,
and that a poor reception could mark the end of the deal between Vince McMahon’s company and 2K Games. Fightful select reports:
The relationship between WWE and Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of 2K Sports, may be coming to an end. And it could result in
WWE moving their games to a competing publisher for the first time ever. Multiple sources have stated that WWE has had
preliminary discussions with Electronic Arts (EA) about bringing the WWE Games line over to one of the top gaming publishers in the world.
Viewed as a “make or break” release for the series, there is a lot riding on the launch of WWE 2K22 and the following weeks and months. The last contract
between the two parties was signed in 2016 and though no official details were made public, sources indicate that it was a six year agreement
with options to extend it. Should the game be well received by the public and sales be around expectations, an extension could be not far behind.
Should it be deemed a failure, a move to EA could become a greater possibility than ever before.”
WWE and 2K have been at odds for some time now, as WWE reportedly blames 2K for the reception to 2K20, while 2K are mad at WWE for
their constant roster changes and releases, which has caused 2K22 to be delayed from the original late-2021 release window.
We’ll only know for sure whether WWE and 2K are over in the coming months when the reviews for 2K22 come in, but with WWE reportedly in
talks with rival developer EA Games, 2k22 could be the very last game of the series.
And we’re ending with the WWE Hall of Fame, as the second inductee into the 2022 class has been confirmed.
As first reported by Bleacher Report and later confirmed by WWE themselves, it was announced that Leon White, aka Big Van Vader will be inducted
alongside The Undertaker on April 1st. A three-time WCW World Champion, Vader is considered one of the most agile superheavyweights
of all time, and made a splash, literally upon joining the WWF by flattering Commissioner Gorilla Monsoon, the first time an authority figure had been a
attacked in WWE.
Sadly, this induction will be posthumous, as the former World Champion sadly passed in 2018, but It'll be Vader time, one last time on April 1st.