Here's more wrestling news for December 22nd 2021
And your headlines for Afternoon include
Tony Khan Opens Up About Kevin Owens Re- Signing With WWE!
Kevin Owens On Why No WWE Stars Sent Videos For ROH Final Battle!
CM Punk On What Kept Him Out Of WWE 2K22?
Why Eddie Kingston Missed DEFY Show?
Why There Is Massive Heat On RIHO In AEW?
Seth Rollins Compares His WWE Gimmick To A BIG Character!
"I Was Getting Death Threats" - Top WWE Superstar Reveals The Massive Consequences He Had To Face After An Angle With Becky Lynch!
WWE’s MAJOR Plans For Bobby Lashley! And More!
We’re starting off with Kevin Owens, and last week it was confirmed that the former Universal Champion has signed a new, multi-year deal with WWE.
Owen’s original deal was meant to expire next month, and It was believed that he’d be joining AEW to reunite with his Mount Rushmore teammates Adam Cole and
the Young Bucks, but that won’t be happening now. Speaking to CBS Sports, AEW President Tony Khan opened up about Owens re-signing with WWE
saying he would have been interested in bringing the former Universal Champion to his company. He added:
“He’s a great wrestler. I think he ended up signing for what I believe is probably a lot of money. I think that’s great and good for him. We have a lot of
people spotlighted here and he’s great.”
Khan went on the praise Owens for his wrestling ability and said that he’d flourish wherever he went, adding:
Any company he goes to he’ll be a great wrestler for them
Khan’s comments come just days after the news broke of Owens re-signing, and although the Prizefighter would’ve made a fine AEW World
Champion one day, his focus now is Day 1, and the WWE Title.
Last week, Ring of Honor had it’s Final Battle Pay Per View, which will mark the last show from the company for the foreseeable future.
As part of the show, several former Ring of Honor names had segments, with CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Jay Lethal and others helping make Final
Battle one epic show. AEW may have lent a helping hand to ROH, but that wasn’t the case with WWE, as despite Adam
Pearce, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, AJ S tyles and Samoa Joe all once being in ROH, none of them appeared at Final Battle.
Speaking to Pat Laparde, Owens explained why he and other ROH alum didn’t appear at Final Battle, and it’s not because of the actions of WWE:
The answer is quite simple: Ring of Honor didn’t ask any wrestlers from WWE to do that, nor contacted anyone at WWE… I’ve read some people
on the Internet saying that probably WWE didn’t let us do it, but that’s incorrect. It’s just ROH who didn’t ask us
WWE may not play well with others, but that doesn’t mean they banned wrestlers from appearing at Final Battle, but it was instead ROH who didn’t
want to work with the current-day Superstars.
CM Punk did send in a video for Ring of Honor final Battle, as he worked for the company before coming to the WWE in 2006.
After an impressive run working for Vince McMahon, including a 434-day reign as WWE Champion, Punk walked out of the company in June 2014, and wasn’t
released until months later, on what happened to be his wedding day. Before his departure, Punk was one of their top stars,
with an incredible 434-day reign as WWE Champion to his name, but WWE’s problems with the Best in the World still linger to this day.
That’s according to Brian Mazique of Forbes, who in a report on the upcoming WWE 2K22, said that the company is far more likely to have a Tony Khan s
special edition of the game than put CM Punk, an eight-year veteran of WWE in it as a playable character. He adds
It would have to be the sort of discord that is had between CM Punk and the WWE, whom I’m told by someone with strong connections to the situation,
will almost never be in a WWE game. One source said, the powers that be “hate him.” This isn’t the first time WWE have let their emotions
show about Punk, as before his AEW debut in August, sources in WWE said they were fine not working with him, saying the former World Champion was
AEW’s problem now. It’s worth mentioning that these comments came only after WWE tried to re-sign Punk in December
2020, an offer Punk did listen to before talks broke down, as there’s no love lost between the WWE and the former World Heavyweight Champion
More from AEW, as Eddie Kingston has made an impression in the promotion since joining, but wasn’t able to make a recent indie event last weekend.
Fans were disappointed to see that Kingston didn’t make the Dark Horse event based at the DEFY show on Saturday, and on Twitter, Kingston has
said it was because he was in contact with someone who tested positive. Kingston couldn’t bring himself to the Seattle Street
Fight he was booked for, as he knew he could’ve caught it and spread it to others, and we commend Kingston for acting responsibly and choosing to
to stay at home.
Earlier this year, Riho made her return to AEW, after spending much of 2020 in her native Japan due to travel restrictions.
During her time in Japan, Riho was still an AEW wrestler, but was allowed to work for Stardom by Tony Khan, but that decision didn’t come
without some controversy. On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that Riho has caught some heat due
to her working in Stardom, and said that because of AEW’s agreement with the company, she wasn’t allowed to lose.
This explains why Stardom stopped using her, as she could only win over their full-time talent, whilst everyone knew her working relationship with
Stardom was only meant to be temporary. Clearly, there’s some in AEW who believe Riho should only compete for AEW, and didn’t appreciate
the first ever Women’s World Champion helping boost a promotion other than their own.
Nevertheless, Riho will have a chance to become a two-time AEW Women’s World Champion, as she’ll face Britt Baker at Battle of the Belts, a title
opportunity she earned after beating Baker on Rampage.
We will have to wait and see if Riho will be able to beat Britt Baker once again, but the Japanese star is entering that huge title match with some heat.
Back to WWE, as Seth Rollins joined RAW in October and has been a thorn in everyone’s side ever since, with his outlandish attires matched by his
impressive in-ring work. The former Universal Champion certainly knows how to make an impression on TV, and while
speaking to Z100’s Josh Martinez, compared his current gimmick to another outlandish character from the pages of DC Comics:
“God, it’s as if — it’s as if this crazy — if The Joker were a narcissist going through a midlife crisis. I guess that’s the best way to really put it. I don’t
really know any other way to do it. But yeah, it’s a lot. It’s a lot happening but the cool thing about the character is it can kind of go any which way
There’s a lot of unpredictability with it and I think that’s fun, you know?” You can have matches like a Hell In A Cell match
with Edge, but you can also have television segments where I just laugh with my best friend Bayley for five minutes. So, you know,
I just think that there’s not a lot of characters on our television program that can do all these different things and so, that’s kind of just my
approach to where I’m at right now.” Rollins may be more unhinged than he’s ever been, but the Monday Night Messiah now has a WWE
Championship opportunity at Day 1, and with it now being over two years since Rollins’ last world title run ended, we’re sure that he’ll do whatever it takes
takes to regain the WWE title.
Rollins isn’t the only despicable heel in WWE, as Happy Corbin has established himself as one of the most easily-hateable individuals on the main
roster, but sometimes the hate for him goes too far. At Extreme Rules 2019, Corbin teamed with Lacey Evans and faced Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch,
who were both faces at the time, with the latter teams Universal and RAW Women’s titles on the line.
During the match, Corbin hit his finisher on The Man, and in an interview with Ryan Satin, detailed the significant backlash he received for hitting the move:
“When I hit Becky with the End of Days, I was getting death threats. On a regular basis. 95% of [critics] are on the internet or safely behind
somewhere they can’t be accessed. Roman said it the best one time, that he’s never met a hater in real life. That’s the same kind of thing with me
Roman Reigns certainly had more than his fair share of haters during his time as a babyface, and it’s telling that none of them had the guts to addres
him in person. Ironically, now that Reigns is a heel, he’s become one of the most popular Superstars in WWE,
as fans are more than ready to acknowledge their Tribal Chief. As for Corbin, he’ll continue feuding with Drew
McIntyre for the time being, even though it’ll be Madcap Moss who faces the Scottish Warrior at Day 1, and whatever he does on TV, neither Corbin,
nor any wrestler deserves death threats from those afraid to say it to their face.
And we’re ending today with RAW, which saw Bobby Lashley team with Big E, to face the team of Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins.
Given that Big E is the man who dethroned Lashley as WWE Champion, many found it odd to see the two team up, and it was speculated that a face turn
imminent for the former World Champion.
On his show, Dave Meltzer said that this indeed is the plan, and that him teaming with Big E was just the latest step of his face turn.
After all, Lashley had to beat three men just to qualify for the WWE Championship match at Day 1, which was recapped in a video package this week which
Meltzer called “a total babyface video.” In addition to the package and his teaming with Big E, Lashley also teased splitting with MVP,
the man who brought Lashley to the WWE Title picture earlier this year. If WWE does split MVP and Lashley, we imagine
the fan response will be mostly negative, but with MVP a fantastic heel manager, this split will have to happen for Lashley to turn face in the near future.