Here's more wrestling news for may 26th 2022
And your headlines for Afternoon include
Why Nikkita Lyons Is Taken Out Of Action?
WWE Called Out For Making Examples Out Of Sasha Banks & Naomi
Matt Riddle Blasted Him For Being A ‘Toxic Perverter Man’
Mia Yim Rips WWE For Changing Gimmicks Just To Fire Talent
Why Roderick Strong Match Was Cut From NXT 2.0?
Scott Steiner Threatens To Kill Ex-WWE Wrestler
Ric Flair Is Pretty Sure Hulk Hogan Will Be In Attendance For His Farewell Match
Britt Baker Would Love To Wrestle Sasha Banks
Why The Undertaker Is Afraid Of Cucumbers?
"Get The F*** Off Of Him" - Details On RVD Breaking Up Real Fight Between Two Former WWE Superstars
Bully Ray Says WWE Should Introduce ‘Iron Man Title’ – Reveals Who Should Win It
Thunder Rosa: I Would Love To Defend The AEW Women's World Title In Japan But That's Up To Tony Khan! And More!
We’re kicking off today with Nikkita Lyons, and earlier this week we reported that she is out of the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament.
It was announced on this week’s NXT 2.0 that Lyons is out, and now we know what caused the popular young prospect to withdraw.
Taking to Instagram, Lyons said that she suffered a partial MCL tear, but will thankfully not require surgery, and is at home rehabilitating.
For the tournament, Lyons has been replaced by Tiffany Stratton, who defeated Fallon Henley to advance to the finals, where she’ll face Roxanne Perez at NXT In Your House.
The winner of the tournament will get a shot at the NXT Women’s Championship in the future, but for Lyons, we’re wishing her a very speedy recovery.
Last week, Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of Raw, forcing WWE to scrap their plans for that night’s main event, as well as two championship programmes.
Since then, WWE has gone out of their way to burying the duo, calling them unprofessional and suspending them on live TV, and this shows no signs of slowing down.
One person who knows both Sasha and Naomi well is Renee Paquette, and on her Throwing Down show, the former WWE comm entator said that the treatment of the former WWE Women’s Tag
Champions is a message to the entire roster: “It’s just such a weird time in WWE where they are cutting people left, right and center, I feel like people are really being
made examples of as well, and that’s the thing that sucks where it’s like, I feel like, Sasha, Naomi are really trying to do a bigger picture situation here, and I hope that they are not nipped in the bud for that.”
For many, the consensus is that while Banks and Naomi may have been wrong to walk out, that WWE has taken things too far, but as far as Renee is concerned, this is all to stop anyone else
thinking about standing up for themselves backstage.
Speaking of problematic Superstars, Riddle remains to be a focus on WWE TV, and while he’s a fun-loving goof on screen, he does have some skeletons in his closet.
Facing accusations of sexual misconduct in late 2020 Riddle said that the relationship he had with Candy Cartwright was a consensual affair, and recently, he divorced his wife of eleven years Lisa.
In the wake of his divorce, Riddle began seeing a new woman, Daniella Petrow, but it appears that relationship is also at an end.
Responding to a fan who thought they were still together, Petrow didn’t hold back in her tweets, saying:
I’m happy I’m not w the sick toxic perverted man anymore you all don’t know the Evil he really is I was blinded by love I couldn’t see it either
No disrespect at all for your sister know that … but the amount of men & women especially sleeping w them raw just makes me sick some as young as 18/19 yrs old and the relationship I can’t believe I
was in I’m still like wtf this man bent me so far he broke me
Riddle may be enjoying the push of his career on screen, but his personal life continues to be very messy, and we’ll see if WWE issues a statement on these latest claims against the Original Bro.
Last year, Mia Yim was cut from WWE, almost a year after her last match with the promotion.
Despite a solid run in NXT, Yim’s call up to the main roster was a disaster, and doesn’t want to see what happened to her happen to others.
During a Twitch stream, Yim hit out at WWE’s booking of Shotzi, saying that the SmackDown Superstar doesn’t even have her tank anymore because quote “WWE like to fix sh*t that isn’t broken.”
When a fan responded by saying that Yim is angry, adding that she was released because she didn’t work hard enough, the e x-Retribution member didn’t take it, tweeting:
When you work hard for their ideas, do their ideas, and still get released. Your statement is inaccurate.
Earlier this month, Yim returned to Impact Wrestling, and seems to be much happier in the promotion, and while her WWE career didn’t work out as planned, it wasn’t for lack of trying by the former Knockouts Champion.
On this week’s NXT 2.0, Roderick Strong was meant to team with Damon Kemp against Pretty Deadly, but that match never happened.
It turns out that Strong is dealing with an ankle injury, and Kemp informed the rest of the Diamond Mine about their leader’s condition.
There’s no word on just how serious this injury is, or when he’ll be back, but with Strong having requested his release multiple times in the past, this could make for an explosive situation.
Later this year, Ric Flair will compete in his last ever match, over a decade after his most recent match which happened with TNA Wrestling.
As one of the greatest of all time, facing Ric in his last ever match would be an honor for countless wrestlers, but one name who Flair doesn’t want to face is Scott Steiner.
That’s at least according to Big Poppa Pump himself, as during a recent livestream, with Highspots Wrestling Network, Scott addr essed Flair’s return and the possibility of facing the Nature Boy:
“He [Ric Flair] ain’t no old friend of mine. I would kill him [in the ring]. I’d destroy him. Yeah, everybody wants to see him get beat up.”
Flair himself recently said that this will be a tag-team match, incl uding FTR, the Rock n Roll Express and a mystery person yet to be named, but don’t expect Freakzilla to get involved.
Scott Steiner is no friend of Ric Flair, but one person who is is Hulk Hogan, who was once rumored to be his opponent in July.
Speaking on the To Be The Man podcast, Flair said the match won’t feature the Hulkster, but he has been invited, and is pretty sure he’ll be there.
Like Flair, Hogan is no stranger to controversy, but expect the former WWF Champion to make his presence known at Starrcast five later this year.
Now, today is day 10 since Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of Monday Night Raw, and the pair have earned condemnation from WWE but also support outside the company.
Many have said that Banks and Naomi were in the right for the walk out, or at least that WWE is wrong for how they’ve handled it, and now AEW’s Britt Baker has weighed in.
Speaking to Forbes, the former Women’s World Champion discussed Sasha Banks, and is All In when it comes to a match with the Boss:
“Since it’s a pretty hot topic right now, I’m going to say Sasha Banks.…I think she is one of the top draws in all of WWE. She’s such a superstar, she’s such a good wrestler. She’s definitely
somebody that I would love to wrestle.”
Baker may want a match with Banks, but that all hinges on both women being in the same company at the same time.
With Baker being treated very well in AEW, it’s unlikely she’ll leave, and with WWE understandably hesitant to release Banks, given her star power and risk of going to AEW, this match wil
have to remain a dream bout for the wrestling dentist.
Throughout his three-decade career in the WWE, The Und ertaker left many Superstars feeling afraid, but there is one unique item that always had the Deadman quaking in his boots.
Fans may know that The Undertaker is afraid of cucumbers, as the long, green fruit holds some kind of power over the recently inducted Hall of Famer.
Appearing on the latest Wives of Wrestling podcast, the Undertaker’s significant other Michelle McCool discussed her husband’s phobia, and how it all came about:
“We can’t even have one in the room. Every birthday, [daughter] Kaia gets cucumbers. She’ll like put them under his pillow, she’ll put them in his car. Cucumbers, he can’t even smell them … can’t even
be around it. He ate so many cucumbers one day that he got sick. And ever since then, it was just game over.”
While the Deadman has had a legendary career worth of his Hall of Fame induction, it’s the simple cucumber that has his number, though this was thankfully never incorporated into
any of his storylines as WWE Superstar.
When you think of Rob Van Dam, you probably think of a, laidback wrestler who’s WWE promos consisted of “cool” and “whatever” and seemed always relaxed.
While RVD may be a laidbacked dude, that wasn’t the case during a 2004 Live event, as Rene Dupree explained on his podcast this week.
Speaking on Café de Rene with Paul London, the former Tag Champion discussed the November 21st 2004 event, in which Hardcore Holly instigated a very real fight with Rene:
I just remember you [Dupree] taking one breath, like, ‘F***, thank God that s***’s over. What a nightmare,’” London said. “And then it’s like, ‘Wham…’ Cheap shot through the curtain from behind,
kept on you. In like less than a minute Van Dam hopped on, pulled Bob off, like, ‘That’s enough, get the f*** off of him. That’s enough.’”
For however people wanna look at Van Dam, he’s a legit tough guy.” London continued, “He did a lot of tough man tournaments. He knows his s***, so nobody was gonna mess with him. I remember
specifically we were just in shock, everybody was like a deer in headlights, ‘Holy f***.’”
London went on to say that John Laurinaitis said Holly had acted unprofessionally, and promised Dupree that this would not happen again.
RVD was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame last year, but only after Vince McMahon learned he wasn’t already a member, and the former World Champion proved to be just as resourceful breaking
up fights backstage, as he was in the ring.
Now, in WWE, there's no shortage of titles around, which are defended across the various brands of the company.
It's been a while since WWE introduced a new title, but a WWE and Impact Wrestling Hall of Famer is calling on the company to introduce some new gold.
On Busted Open Radio, Bully Ray said that a title should be introdu ced that has to be defended every single week, and would show off the workhorses on the roster that often get overlooked.
Bully christened his idea the Iron Man Championship, though we imagine this name would confuse fans who would expect it to be defended in Iron Man matches.
The Tag Team specialist even had some suggestions for the first champion, saying that either Ricochet or Ciampa would make a great Iron Man Champion, as they can certainly go in the ring.
Ultimately the decision regarding a new title will be up to Vince McMa hon, but with the WWE wanting to win back live fans, the prospect of an exciting title change each and every week isn't the worst idea.
And we’re ending today with the AEW and New Japan crossover show 'Forbidden Door', and not long after it was announced, it was reported that all women's promotion STARDOM is looking to get in
the action. New Japan officials stated earlier this month that an AEW-STARDOM show is a possibility, and Thunder Rosa is already packing her bags.
When asked about competing in Japan at a potential crossover event, the AEW women's World Champion told the Battleground Podcast that she would have no problem defending her title in
Japan but it is not up to her: "That's a question you have to ask my dear boss, Mr. Khan. I mean, if it's up to me, I'll be like, ‘Tony,
I'm gonna get a ticket to Japan. I'm gonna go and defend the championship, right?’ I mean, I would love to be a worldwide champion."
At this time, an AEW STARDOM event hasn't been confirmed by either promotion, though STARDOM does reportedly want both Rosa and Britt Baker for an event at the end of 2022, so time will
the reigning Women's World Champion competes in Japan this year after all.