Here's Your wrestling news for January 12th 2022
And your headlines for today include
Who Is WWE Refusing To Compete In The Women’s Royal Rumble Match?
Two More Shocking Names Set To Return At The Rumble !
Sasha Banks Makes Non-WWE Appearance Despite Foot Injury !
HUGE Lawsuit Filed At WWE! Company Accused Of Tampering With Competing Promotion !
More Changes Made To NXT 2.0 As New Creative Head Is Announced !
Former WWE Superstar Teases Return In The Men’s Royal Rumble !
Iconic Wrestling Journalist Says AEW Wrestler WILL Be In The Men’s Rumble Match !
Two-Time WWE Hall Of Famer Announces New NFT Project ! And More !
We’re kicking off today with the Women’s Royal Rumble match, as Superstars from RAW, SmackDown and outside the company have
been announced. At this time, 19 of the 30 spots have been filled, but despite not having enough women on the
main roster, nobody from NXT 2.0 has been picked. Speaking on Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alverez said that this is a purposeful decision by WWE,
as they don't want NXT 2.0, which is once again being seen as the developmental brand, be featured on one of the biggest nights for the main roster.
Alverez added that while WWE doesn't want to use NXT 2.0 talent for the Women's Rumble match, they may have no choice, as there's 11 spots still to fill.
WWE’s belief is that given how NXT 2.0 is now considered a developmental brand, having to use these Superstars who are meant to be seen as
rookies will only demonstrate the lack of depth on the main-roster. With over two weeks to go until the Royal Rumble,
WWE has time to announce more women for the match, but if any NXT 2.0 Superstars appear on January 29th, they won’t be because WWE
wanted them to compete in the first place.
If WWE refuses to use any NXT 2.0 talent, then they’ll need to find wrestlers from elsewhere to fill the eleven remaining spots, and two more places
may have now been filled. It’s worth mentioning that these names haven’t been confirmed by WWE themselves, but if you
really want to be surprised later this month, you should really skip the next 30 seconds of the video.
According to PW Insider, former WWE Women’s and Diva’s Champion Melina will be in the Women’s Rumble match, as will Cameron.
Both names are interesting choices, as Melina made her Impact Wrestling debut last year, and has also worked recently with the NWA,
while Cameron has had just one match since her 2016 WWE departure, and that was for AEW. If these two names do appear, then WWE has nine
spots to fill, and with names like Asuka and Lacey Evans still nowhere to be seen, time will tell who else gets added to the Women’s Royal Rumble match.
Sasha Banks won't be in this year's Women's Rumble match, as she's currently out with a foot injury which will take 4-6 weeks to recover from.
Despite this, Banks' star continues to grow outside WWE, and this week, teamed with ESPN for their broadcast of the College Football National Game.
Kicking off the big game between Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide, appearing in a futuristic opening segment.
This isn't Banks' first major appearance outside WWE, as she had a key role on Season 2 of The Mandalorian, and the Boss is continuing to get her name
out there both in and out of the ring
Over the decades, WWE has faced lawsuits from various parties, including ex-employees, but now an entire promotion is suing the company.
In October it was reported that WWE had blocked what was described at the time as a “third-party wrestling company” from appearing on Tubi,
streaming platform run by one of WWE’s TV partners FOX. We can now reveal that MLW is the third party
company in question, and they are now suing WWE, claiming that the Sports Entertainment juggernaut has interfered with MLW’s contracts and business prospects.
The suit claims that WWE pressured third parties to abandon deals with MLW, and it’s worth mentioning that MLW had already made a deal with Tubi
before WWE allegedly got involved. It’s also claimed that in early 2021, after MLW announced they were in talks with VICE TV,
a WWE executive told VICE that Vince McMahon was “pissed” that they’d even consider working with MLW, and that they should stop affiliating with the promotion.
In a statement, MLW CEO Court Bauer claimes that WWE has been depriving it’s competitors of critical opportunities for years, and said that the professional
wrestling world collectively believes this has to stop. Responding, WWE released a statement saying that the claims by MLW have no merit, and they
intend to defend themselves against these claims. We’ll have to see how this situation transpires, as WWE has a very good legal team led by Jerry
McDevitt, and we’ll keep following this story as more details come out.
When NXT became NXT 2.0 last September, it was done to make the show more in-line with WWE’s main roster, with the logo, design and roster dramatically changing.
When Triple H ran NXT, his creative team operated without much outside influence, but with WWE releasing those hired by the Game, the show is
now going in a new direction. PW Insider reports that NXT’s creative team will now answer to Bruce Prichard and Christine
Lubrano, making this the third brand Prichard, the Executive Director of RAW and SmackDown, will be overseeing.
Johnny Russo will take over as new head writer for NXT 2.0, having worked with WWE creative since 2011.
Dewey Foley, the son of Mick Foley will work with NXT 2.0, after most recently being in charge of 205 Live.
These are just the latest sweeping changes to the paint-splattered brand, and there’s no signs that WWE will stop these changes anytime soon
in their ongoing efforts to reshape NXT
More Royal Rumble news, as 10 entrants have been announced so far for the Men’s Royal Rumble match, with the majority coming from RAW.
It’s been said this week that WWE are looking to have some surprising names appear in the Men’s Rumble match, and one ex-Superstar has made
their intentions clear. On Twitter, former WWE Superstaar Chris Masters tweeted a video of the Rumble countdown clock
and his titantron, teasing that he’ll be one of the surprises in this month’s match. Masters debuted with WWE in 2005 and used a
full-nelson known as the Master Lock, and interestingly, the first man to break the hold, Bobby Lashley, now uses the Full-Nelson
himself as the Hurt Lock. In March last year, Masters debuted for the NWA, and is their reigning NWA National Heayweight
Champion, but as Mickie James has proven, being the champion for a different company doesn’t mean you can’t wrestle at the 2022 Royal Rumble
We can’t say for sure whether Chris Masters will be in this year’s Men’s Royal Rumble, but we do know that WWE has been looking to open the Forbidden
Door and allow wrestlers from other promotions to be in the match. We also know that WWE has been in talks with
AEW lately regarding a crossover partnership, and although it was first reported that this would be for filming documentaries, it could lead to a
veteran of both companies being in the Rumble. That’s what Bill Apter believes, as in an interview with Sportskeeda, the iconic wrestling journalist
said that AEW has become such a viable competitor, even if they have a long way to go, that they don’t want any of their big names in the Rumble match.
He added:
“But someone on the level of Billy Gunn - to take nothing away from him, he's excellent at what he does - it wouldn't hurt if they brought him in.”
Gunn was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019, despite being signed to AEW at the time, and perhaps history will repeat itself with the contracted AEW
performer making his presence in the Men’s Rumble match.
And we’re ending today with Bret Hart, one of the greatest wrestlers to ever grace the ring, and the Hitman has now entered the world of NFTs.
On Twitter, Bret announced his new project ‘Bret Hart’s Cartoon World,’ saying he’s worked on this since the Spring of last year, and will be sharing
more details very soon.
At this time, we don’t know when Bret’s NFL will launch or how much it’ll cost, but we imagine Bret’s work will sell out fast with his loyal fans.