Here's your wrestling news for March 15th 2021
And your headlines for today include Why Vince McMahon Is Upset With Wrestlers Once Again? WWE Creative On John Laurinaitis! WWE News!
Is Bobby Lashley Having A Triple Threat Match Against Drew McIntyre & Brock Lesnar?
Why Vince McMahon Is Upset With Wrestlers Once Again?
WWE Announces Lineup for Stone Cold Steve Austin Week!
Things Aren’t Looking Good For Big E At WWE Fastlane!
Top WWE Superstar Angered Vince McMahon To Cause New Ban!
Backstage News On WWE's Creative Direction Following John Laurinaitis' Hiring !
Top WWE Star Revealed She Almost Retired Last Year!
AEW Star Says People Are Jealous Of Tony Khan For Betting On Himself! And More!
We’re starting today with news from WrestleMania 37 and though the biggest show of the year is just 26
days away, there’s still no match confirmed for the WWE Championship.
Following his dominant title victory and title defence on RAW, it’s expected that WWE Champion
Bobby Lashley will walk into Raymond James Stadium as Champion, to presumably face Drew McIntyre.
Whilst that match has been rumoured, the Almighty Champion wants something bigger, as he spoke to
the Kinda Fun Sports podcast about a potential triple-threat match between himself, McIntyre and Brock Lesnar.
He said: Let’s think of a couple of different scenarios. Do I get Brock in the
lock? Or does Brock hit Drew with the F5, as he stands up, I spear Brock. Drew hits me with a Claymore, turns
right around to an F5, Brock walks away with it. Do I get Drew in the lock, and Brock hits us both with the F5?
Lesnar hasn’t been seen in WWE since his WrestleMania loss to McIntyre last year, and with Lashley
still hoping for a showdown with the Beast, we’re confident that a triple- threat between the three would be
worthy of headlining WrestleMania.
That wasn’t all Lashley had to say, as whilst his WWE Championship win on the March 1st RAW was historic,
some fans believe it should’ve happened later in the year. In that same interview, Lashley
addressed fans who believed his title win should’ve come at WrestleMania, saying he likes how things have
happened. Specifically, Lashley said he enjoyed the show-long storyline of the Miz
trying to get out of defending the title, only to be decimated by Lashley himself.
Whilst Lashley winning the title at the biggest show of the year would’ve been a huge deal, the Champ isn’t
complaining about how things happened, and after 17 years in professional wrestling, working to
this moment, Lashley didn’t want to wait another month.
For the past year, WWE has made countless changes due to the ongoing global situation, in their efforts to keep
the show going and the Superstars safe. Those changes have included WWE having to give-up live fans, as well as
touring, but that still isn’t enough for some Superstars to take things seriously.
Fightful Select is reporting that Vince McMahon has gotten particularly furious about wrestler safety,
as he feels that the WWE staff aren’t taking enough precautions. Their report added that last week,
a member of WWE was at Disneyland, unmasked, a trip the chairman clearly felt isn’t necessary.
Fightful didn’t note if that person was a member of the roster or a backstage employee, but it was mentioned that
Vince McMahon has been sending messages out to staff to not take any unnecessary risks before last
month’s Superbowl.
It was also noted that some behind the scenes staff have been demoted and having their responsibilities reduced
after photos of them in public areas without masks came out. With WWE being mere weeks away
from hosting WrestleMania 37 with live fans, the last thing the company needs is another setback due to the
ongoing situation and people’s responses, and clearly Vince McMahon is struggling to keep his cool.
Now, Tomorrow will be March 16th, aka ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin Day, so it’s only fitting that WWE is going
all-out with content to celebrate the Texas Rattlesnake. On the same week that the WWE
Network will move to Peacock, the company has announced ‘Stone Cold’ week, which’ll kick off with a special
titled ‘Meeting Stone Cold’ that’ll air tomorrow. ‘Meeting Stone Cold’will feature
Superstars and legends recalling their first impressions of the Hall of Famer, whilst on Friday, fans will
get to watch ‘Birth of the Stunner’ and learn about the history of Austin’s finisher.
On Saturday, there’ll be a ‘Best of Stone Cold Steve Austin’ collection, before Austin himself will appear on
Sunday when he sits down with Randy Orton for the latest Broken Skull Sessions.
There’ll also be a brand new book releasing tomorrow, full of 316 facts and stories about the Texas Rattlesnake,
as fans will be spoilt for choice during ‘Stone Cold Week.’
That edition of the Broken Skull Sessions will air immediately after Fastlane 2021, where fans could be in
store for a major title change. So far, there’s only three title matches confirmed for the show,
and according to the betting odds, fans can expect Apollo Crews to be crowned the new Intercontinental
Champion. The current odds show that the current champion Big E is very-much
the Underdog heading into this Sunday’s match, so it’s highly possible the gold changes hands.
By comparison, Universal Champion Roman Reigns is the heavy favourite to retain his title against Daniel Bryan,
whilst the women’s tag titles match could go either way. It’s strange that WWE is hosting a
Pay Per View, less than three weeks before their biggest show of the year, but for Big E, his days as Champion
could easily come to an end this Sunday.
Win or lose this Sunday, Big E won’t be using any thigh slaps to add sound to his strikes, as the practice was
recently outlawed per an order by Vince McMahon. WWE have even put signs up
backstage, both on the main roster and NXT, reminding Superstars that they could be fined if they slap their legs,
and according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, this rule came into effect because of one Superstar.
Though they didn’t mention who specifically, the Observer said they’re a big wrestler, who did a leg slap
sloppily on a recent SmackDown, which angered the Boss so much he outlawed the practice.
Given that we know it was a top-tier SmackDown star who uses kicks, the obvious suspect is Daniel Bryan,
who has used slaps in the past to add noise to his strikes.
Time will tell whether leg slaps are allowed in WWE again, but for now, the Superstars will have to break the
habit because Vince McMahon says so.
Last week, WWE surprisingly rehired John Lauriniatis as the head of their talent relations, a position he resigned
from in 2012. Now, we have an update of what Lauriniatis’ second tenure in the
role will be like, and fans shouldn’t expect any drastic changes for the better.
That’s according to Dave Meltzer who wrote in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, as he described Johnny
Ace as someone who always had a smile for Vince McMahon. It was added that much like Bruce
Prichard, Lauriniatis won’t challenge McMahon regarding the company’s creative decision.
Ironically, many fans first heard of John Lauriniatis thanks to CM Punk’s Pipebomb on RAW in 2011, where
he called the future RAW General Manager a Yes-Man, and it seems that hasn’t changed, ten years later.
One thing unlikely to change under the Lauriniatis administration is part-time Superstars becoming Champions,
and that doesn’t sit right with Mickie James. A former five-time WWE Women’s
, James has been quietly retired by WWE, with her last singles match happening back in September last year,
where she lost to Zelina Vega. Recently, Taya Valkyrie has faced some backlash for signing with WWE
at 37 years old, and when she tweeted age brings wisdom, James replied by calling out WWE’s double standard.
She said: I agree 1000 percent. But in this industry once you hit 35 it’s perceived
you should start wrapping it up and retire as a women. Even though your just hitting you stride. At 40
“retire already” Even though the men are champs well into there 50s and glorified for it. Sad but true
Whilst James, who’s 41 has been quietly retired by WWE, the company still continues to push the 54-year-old
Goldberg, as well as the 44-year-old WWE Champion Bobby Lashley. Perhaps this double-standard will
change one day, but it seems James isn’t counting on that happening anytime soon.
One woman doing well right now is Ember Moon, who recently became the first woman to be an NXT Women’s
Tag Champion. One half of the reigning tag Champions, Moon made history on last Wednesday’s
episode, but this moment may have never happened.
On Instagram, the Shenom spoke about the injury she was suffering from this time last year and said:
“Last year around this time I was thinking I would never enter ring again and was considering retiring.
And now I can call myself champion again. 2 years 11months since the last time I held gold.”
It was in September 2019 that Moon tore her Achilles Tendon during a 24/7 Championship chase, an injury that’d
keep her out for 13 months, and we’re pleased that the War Goddess never gave up even when it looked like she’d
never wrestle again.
Speaking of the gold brand, fans can expect some new faces to appear on NXT soon, as WWE have signed two
Australian talents to developmental contracts. PW Insider is reporting that Matt
Wahlberg and Steph De Lander have both signed deals, and will report to the Performance Center very soon.
Wahlberg started wrestling in 2017, but is best known for appearing in the 2019 Australian version of Survivor,
whilst De Lander has worked since 2017 as well, in promotions such as SHIMMER.
The two are joining a stacked group of NXT signees, which includes Taya Valykrie, Lacey Ryan and Priscilla Kelly
and we’ll have to see how all these signings fair in the coming years.
AEW news next, and recently, Tony Khan’s company started flagging videos that use pirated footage from
AEW shows, which hasn’t gone down well with some fans. When one YouTuber, known as
‘Girl on Camera’ called Tony Khan himself out on it, Khan fired back, asking if there was a way she could
tweak her videos without using illegally pirated videos he spends millions per month to produce.
Matt Hardy also weighed in, saying he loved seeing a quote “Internet nobody” in the mud, but when one fan
called him some expletives, adding that Matt is gross, the AEW star stopped joking around.
Responding, Marr said it’s gross when people make fun of their injuries on their channels, and argued that
fans are jealous of Tony Khan for betting on himself and succeeding. It’s hard to argue that Khan hasn’t
succeeded in the world of wrestling so far, and whether fans believe its fair of him to flag pirated videos, clearly Youtube,
and Matt Hardy, are on his side.
And we’re ending today with a break from the ring, as WWE 24/7 Champion Bad Bunny has become the first WWE
Superstar to win a Grammy. Winning the award for his album YHLQMDLG, this is Bunny’s first
Grammy award win, but he’ll be adding the trophy to a cabinet filled with 72 other musical awards.
2021 has been a huge year for Bunny, who also won the 24/7 title, and performed on Saturday Night Live,
and with a match at WrestleMania on the horizon, expect WWE to focus on the Grammy winner even more in the
coming weeks.