Here's your wrestling news for May 13th 2022
And your headlines for today include
Roman Reigns Removed From Hell In A Cell Poster; Replaced With Top WWE RAW Star!
Is Roman Reigns The Next Brock Lesnar? Smackdown Roster Faces Crisis As Roman Reigns Makes Fewer Appearances!
Roman Reigns & Young Fan Troll Each Other At WWE Live Event!
MJF LEGIT UNHAPPY With AEW Contract Situation!
Paige Vanzant’s AEW Absence Sparks Speculation!
Major Update On Killer Kross And Scarlett!
Kevin Owens Vows To Get To The Bottom Of Ezekiel Investigation!
Tony Khan Defends AEW’S Healthy Use Of Blood!
‘Young Rock’ Renewed For Third Season On NBC! And More!
We’re kicking off today with Roman Reigns, who has signed a new deal with WWE, one that’ll mean fans see far less of the Tribal Chief.
It has been reported that while Reigns won’t be competing as much, he will still be around for Premium Live Events, but that doesn’t include next month’s Hell in a Cell.
On his show, Meltzer said that the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion isn’t part of the plans for the June 5th event:
“Basically, Roman Reigns is not going to be on every pay-per-view. He’s off the Chicago show… He will be doing pay-per-views this Summer. Even though he was removed from all the advertising after
June 24, I believe it is, yeah, June 24 in Austin… But he’s been removed from all advertising from house shows, TVs, everything except for the two stadium shows.”
It’s believed that Reigns’ next match/title defence will be at Money in the Bank in early July, but it’s unclear at this time if this will be when he faces Drew McIntyre as rumored, or if WWE save that for
September’s Clash at the Castle.
All we know for certain is that Reigns won’t be at Hel in a Cell, as his lucrative new deal is proving to be very relaxing for the Head of the Table.
With Reigns not appearing at Hell in a Cell, that leaves a massive gap in the show, not just on the card but on the poster as well.
Reigns had previously been prominently featured on the promotional material for the June 5th event, but he’s since been replaced by Cody Rhodes.
Now, it’s the American Nightmare who is front and center, and it appears that Rhodes will face Seth Rollins for the third time, this time inside the titular structure.
Without Reigns around, this match will likely headline Hell in a Cell, and perhaps could be a sign of things to come in the long-term.
Reigns isn’t advertised for any WWE tapings or live events for the months of July or August, except for Money in the Bank and Summerslam.
Rhodes on the other hand has shown no sign of slowing down now he’s back with WWE, and the fact that he’s literally replacing Roman Reigns, at least on posters, is telling.
Perhaps this could be symbolic of WWE’s plans, as Rhodes could indeed one-day replace Reigns as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, but all we know for now is that Reigns’ absence is
already proving to be working in the former AEW TNT Champion’s favour.
Between missing shows and wrestling less, Reigns certainly has a lighter schedule than before, which many are comparing to the Tribal Chief’s long-time nemesis Brock Lesnar.
On his show, Dave Meltzer addressed Reigns’ new schedule, saying that while he’ll also be on TV less, he will still be around to build towards the events he will be on.
Speaking about the comparrisons to Lesnar, Meltzer said that Reigns is going to be on more shows than the Beast, but it will be “not appreciably more” meaning it’ll only be slightly more than the man
he beat at WrestleMania 38. With WWE’s next big stadium show being Money in the Bank on July 2nd, that is when Reigns’ next
championship match is expected to be, leaving the company without a world champion at live events, and SmackDown without a top heel.
Meltzer added that the blue brand faces something of a crisis without the Tribal Chief around, as the number of stars who have received good booking is shockingly small.
Right now, the top Champion regularly appearing on SmackDown is Ricochet, who has not exactly had the greatest of runs, but the blue brand roster will just have to find a way to cope without the Tribal Chief.
The speculation about Roman Reigns and his situation all started last Friday, when he teased some big changes during a Live event in Trenton, New Jersey, but that’s not all the Head of the Table did that night.
On Twitter, WWE shared a series of clips from a fan who had been at the show, and Reigns can be seen squaring off with the young member of the WWE Universe.
Reigns repeatedly got in the kid’s face, both in and out of the ring, but was able to keep focussed to retain his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Drew McIntyre.
With Reigns expected to miss most if not all future WWE Live events, this may be the last time we get to see the Tribal Chief act like this, but the Champ was on hand to give one lucky fan
extra special experience at the infamous Trenton Live event.
Now, in AEW, few wrestlers are more loathed than MJF, who's refusal to break character has made him a valuable asset to the company.
Recently, MJF has openly spoke about his contract expiring in 2024, and how he may leave to jump ship to Vince McMahon, but this reportedly isn't just for show.
When Fightful Select spoke to sources within AEW, they were told that MJF is legitimately unhappy with AEW right now, and that a number of issues have made the Salt of the Earth genuinely consider leaving.
Things between MJF and Tony Khan really took a turn when the young wrestler conducted a high-profile interview with Ariel Helwani, without telling Khan about it first. The report reads:
We’ve not heard of any outward frustration since then from Tony Khan’s side of things. Though the two talked out their issues in the following week, we’re told that sentiment hasn’t necessarily lasted
with MJF. Fightful has heard that MJF’s sentiments about possibly going to WWE when his contract are up are not in character, and it’s a subject he’s already weighed. There has been at least some
progress on his future in AEW, as we’re told their have been open ended mentions about him possibly gaining an extension.
Ultimately, MJF will only have the opportunity when his current contract expires in January 2024, but the clock is ticking for Tony Khan to get Maxwell Jacob Friedman to re-sign.
More from AEW now, as the company brought in Paige Van Zant with the intention of making her a huge crossover star between wrestling and MMA, but we haven’t seen much of her as of late.
It appeared that AEW was building to a match between Paige and Tay Conti, but her recent hiatus from TV means this match is very unlikely to happen at the upcoming Double or Nothing Pay Per View.
On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said how while a tag match, pitting Paige and Ethan Page against Conti and Sammy Guevara was planned, that match is off, with AEW possibly
feeling Van Zant isn’t ready for such a high profile match.
The last thing AEW needs is for Paige to disappoint in her debut match, especially as the promotion reportedly has big plans for the Bare Knuckle Fighter, who will have her next bout on July 9th.
Gangrel, who has been training Paige for his in-ring debut, has even said that she recently ghosted him and has missed multiple training sessions, so we’ll have to wait and see when the MMA fighter
eventually has a match with AEW.
Last year, Karrion Kross and Scarlet Bordeaux were both cut by WWE, after Kross dominated in NXT and had an underwhelming run on the main roster.
Before coming to WWE, both had worked on the independent scene, including Ring of Honor, but did not appear at Supercard of Honor 15 earlier this year.
Given that both were free agents at the time of the event, and had been booked for the event, many fans were hoping to see Kross and Scarlet show up, but Tony Khan’s first ROH show went ahead
without them.
Speaking to Wrestling Inc this week, Kross explained what exactly happened, saying that he was first informed of Ring of Honor’s interest in them, during one of his jiu-jitsu classes in Orlando:
Someone in the school had brought it to my attention that the company was interested in bringing us both on board… we were told that they’d be interested in having the both of us for the Supercard
Koss said he was ecstatic to get the booking, saying he made sure to have the day of the event, April 1st, free, but then things took a turn for the worst:
Then there was radio silence, I was like, okay, there’s probably a lot of moving parts, I am not going to suffocate this person. Scarlett added that she and Kross were told that because they were
coming from a WWE run, they were considered big number talent, and that Ring of Honor just needed to double check with those who were writing the checks.
Everything changed when Tony Khan took over, as those who had been working on Supercard were no long guaranteed a job, and when Kross spoke to his correspondent, he was told that nobody
had a clue what was going on.
Saying that he felt bad bringing up Ring of Honor to his friend, who would later lose his job following Khan’s purchase, Kross said that “on a human level” he stopped bringing up the show.
Ultimately, Kross and Scalett didn’t appear at Supercard of Honor 15, disappointing both them and countless fans hoping to see them, and while Khan’s purchase has given ROH a new lease on life,
there are those who have lost out big time because of the purchase
Back to WWE, and since the post-WrestleMania 38 Raw, Kevin Owens has been obsessed with trying to prove that Ezekiel is not who he says he is, but is instead Elias.
Ezekiel has always denied the baseless accusations that he is in fact his older brother, but that won’t stop the former Universal Champion from trying.
Speaking on the Tim Donnelly show, Owens talked about his investigation into Raw’s new Superstar, saying:
“I don’t even know what’s next myself. I’ll figure it out, but I know that I have to get to the bottom of it. I’ve invested too much time and energy into it now. I have to figure it out.”
The results of Ezekiel’s DNA test are set to be revealed on the May 16 episode of WWE Raw, which Owens is hoping will prove his claims to be true, but don’t expect the Prizefighter to give up if the results
don’t go his way.
Now, the subject of blood has always been a hotly-debated topic in wrestling, especially given what we know about hepatitis in the industry.
While WWE has a strong no-blood policy, breaking this rule only very rarely, AEW is more liberal with their use of blood, with some of the company’s biggest matches being bloody affairs.
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon infamously said in 2019 that TNT would not want “blood and guts” on their programming, given AEW the name for one of their most violent matches.
Speaking to News 12 Long Island, Tony Khan talked about the violence and blood seen in AEW, and defended just how messy his matches can get:
It’s certainly not every week, you don’t see it on a weekly basis… For the most part, you see a focus on the in-ring action, but every once and awhile, when things have gotten out of hand, it’s been old
school pro wrestling in a way that has been very healthy and has been well-received by our media partners and fans.” Blood is an effective tool in elevating a story, but needs to be used
sparingly rather than let fans get used to it, and while WWE may not be a fan of it, bloody, violent matches have worked out very well for Tony Khan thus far.
And we’re ending today with news from NBC, as Young Rock has been confirmed for a third season.
The series based on the life of Dwayne Johnson has proven to be a hit with fans, especially with season 2 seeing the Brahma Bull make it to the World Wrestling Federation.
Now, fans will get to relive more moments from The Rock’s incredible life and career in the ring, as fans learn more about the most electrifying man in sports entertainment.