Here's more wrestling news for February 11th 2022
And your headlines for Afternoon include
AEW contracts are ending! Tony Khan reveals how he’ll decide who stays and who goes
Update on Kenny Omega: When will the former World Champion return from injury
“Not one person had my back!” Former WWE Champion says he was alone when challenging Bianca Belair
Former WWF Tag Team Champion signs legends contract: Could he join the Bloodline next?
Seth Rollins has “controversial” choice for his Mount Rushmore of pro Wrestling
Former NXT Tag Team Champion makes Impact Wrestling debut this week
Kyle O’Reilly reveals shocking quote that made him leave NXT 2.0 for good
Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar both booked for massive untelevised live event next month And more!
We’re kicking off with AEW, as when the company launched in 2019, wrestlers were signed to three- year contracts, meaning many are set to expire
Traditionally, Tony Khan has avoided releasing talent, the exact opposite of Vince McMahon’s WWE, but isn’t ready to re-sign talent just to keep
them away from the competition. In an interview with TV Insider this week, the AEW President explained that he didn’t want to
release wrestlers over the past two years, as he wanted to make sure talent were paid at a time where it was hard for wrestlers to find work,
but admitted that he can no longer keep up this attitude. Now, Khan has said that he can’t renew all the
deals, saying that “tough choices” will have to be made, and talent with expiring contracts will be judged on ability and fan response.
Even with Dynamite, Rampage, Dark and Dark: Elevation, there’s not always time for every AEW talent to receive screen time, and we’ll just have
to see who stays and who goes when Khan makes his tough decisions.
One name who is practically-guarenteed to stay is Kenny Omega, who hasn’t appeared since losing the AEW World Championship to Hangman Adam
Page last September. In his absence from TV, Omega has been recovering from multiple injuries, which he had
to deal with throughout his World title reign, as he refused to take time off until his program with Page was over.
Speaking to PW Insider this week, AEW President Tony Khan had an update on the Cleaner, who he called one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
Khan explained that Omega achieved a lot despite his physical limitations due to his injuries, and promised that the former World Champion WILL be
back in 2022, but said his return is still “a long time coming.”
Not only is Omega the longest-reigning AEW World Champion ever, but he also has a AEW World Tag Title reign to his name, and though an exact timeframe
isn’t available right now, Omega will be back before the end of the year.
In WWE, Bianca Belair is known as the EST for a reason, often showing herself to be the strongest, fastest and greatest in the Women’s Division.
Like Belair, The Miz is no stranger to boasting about his own accomplishments, but the two- time Grand Slam winner has met his match with
the former SmackDown Women’s Champion. Speaking on the Rich Eisen show, the A-Lister recalled a foot race between himself, wearing
shoes, and Belair, who wore wrestling boots, and despite his advantageous footwear, nobody in WWE was backing the Miz:
“I went to the entire WWE locker room and I go, ‘Bianca Belair has wrestling boots on, I have running shoes on. Who wins in a race?’ Everyone,
there was not one person who had my back. Everyone just goes, ‘Bianca Belair will kill you.’ There is no way.”
Since Miz didn’t reveal who won the race, we can only assume Belair beat him as predicted, proving both in and out of the ring why she is one of WWE’s
very top Superstars in recent years.
On SmackDown, Roman Reigns dominates the blue brand alongside his cousins the Usos, while their brother Solo Sikoa is making a name
in NXT 2.0, but now another member of the Anoa’I family has signed a unique deal with WWE.
The Daily Item reports that Samu Anoa’I has signed a legends contract with the company, which is described as a ‘WWE Nostalgia Contract’ in the report.
This deal allows WWE to use Samu’s likeness and request him for special appearances, which would likely be part of the Bloodline’s story on SmackDown, i
if he does appear. A former WWF Tag Team Champion with Headshrinker Fatu, aka Rikishi, Samu has other family in
wrestling, as he’s the cousin of The Rock, as well as the now-deceased Yokozuna, Rosey and Umaga, and he could be back on WWE TV in the near future
For years, fans and wrestlers alike have debated who deserves to be on the Mount Rushmore of professional wrestling, the four biggest names
of the entire industry. There’s countless names who have had careers worthy of being on wrestling’s Mount Rushmore,
and Seth Rollins has his picks, with one very interesting name. Speaking to Pat McAfee on his show, Rollins
discussed who would make the Mountain from an in-ring standpoint, focussing solely on the wrestling skill itself, and said that Shawn Michaels,
Eddie Guerrero and Bret Hart would make up three of his picks. For his fourth, which Rollins said would be a
controversial” choice, the former Universal Champion chose AEW’s Bryan Danielson, even referring to him by that name and not the WWE
approved Daniel Bryan.
Bryan is certainly one of wrestling’s most gifted competitors, though we doubt WWE’s higher-ups will be happy to hear Rollins praise the AEW talent
or even make any reference to the competition. After a lengthy run in WWE, Bryan has joined AEW and is expected to be World Champion one day,
and until then, will prove why he’s on Rollins’ mount Rushmore every single week.
AEW isn’t the only place for former WWE Superstars to make their presence known, as Impact Wrestling has plenty of names who previously worked
for Vince McMahon.
On this week’s Impact, the company saw the debut of Big Kon, formerly Konnor of the Ascension, who came up short against Josh Alexander.
Konnor, alongside Viktor, were both released from WWE on December 8th 2019, and since then have wrestled under the tag team name ‘The Awakening.’
After Konnor’s debut this week, there’s no telling if Viktor will follow his partner to Impact, and despite his loss, the former NXT Tag Team Champion
certainly made his presence felt this week.
More from AEW now, as Kyle O’Reilly made the move to the company last December, after a four year run in NXT.
O’Reilly’s departure was a huge loss for NXT 2.0, who also lost Johnny Gargano around the same time, and now the Undisputed Era alum has
explained his decision to go. Speaking to Renee Paquette on Oral Sessions, O’Reilly said that much like Adam Cole, his contract
with WWE ended much sooner than the company was aware, which gave him a bad vibe from the start.
The former NXT Tag Team Champion went on to say that the ongoing changes in NXT, now NXT 2.0 were also a factor in his decision, and claimed that he was
told by a member of management, “we don’t want pro ‘rasslers anymore.”
O’Reilly, considering himself a professional wrestler above anything else, saw this as a sign he wasn’t welcome, and it sealed the deal for him to leave.
In AEW, O’Reilly has had just one match, teaming with Cole and Bobby Fish to win at last December’s New Year’s Smash, and when his next wrestling match
will be now he’s All-Elite.
And we’re ending today with the world’s most famous Arena, Madison Square Garden, which WWE will return to next month.
On March 5th, the company will return to their old stomping ground, with a huge line-up featuring both Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey in action.
For Lesnar, he’ll be facing WWE Champion Bobby Lashley in a rematch from the Royal Rumble, but it may be Lashley who’s challenging, if the Beast
Incarnate can regain the title at Elimination Chamber. As for Rousey, she’ll be in tag-team action when she teams with Sasha Banks to face Natalya and
her WrestleMania opponent, SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair.
This show, which will also feature Roman Reigns Vs. Seth Rollins and several big names from RAW and SmackDown, marks both Rousey and Lesnar’s
first Garden appearances since 2018, as the New York crowd will certainly get their money’s worth on the road to WrestleMania 38.