Here's your wrestling news for April 8th 2022
And your headlines for today include
Cody Rhodes Scheduled For WWE SmackDown This Week!
Tony Khan FINALLY Comments On Cody Rhodes Returning To WWE!
Shocking Details Concerning WWE SummerSlam Booking Plans!
UNEXPECTED Backstage Comments By Wrestlers & Staff On Vince McMahon’s Match At WrestleMania 38!
William Regal Says - “I Still Has No Idea What I’m Doing In AEW “
Lacey Evans Finally Comments On Her WWE Return!
Surprise Comments By Johnny Gargano On His Wrestling Future!
Seth Rollins Thinks Becky Lynch’s WrestleMania Main Event Suffered Due To Fan Fatigue!
Carmella And Corey Graves Get Married; Top WWE And AEW Stars Attend Ceremony?
Rick Boogs Has Successful Surgery After WrestleMania Injury! And More!
We’re kicking off today with news from SmackDown, as Cody Rhodes is set to make an appearance on the blue brand.
PW Insider notes that Cody will appear, making him the second Raw Superstar to be on this week’s episode after Seth Rollins was previously announced.
Rhodes’ timing is certainly interesting, as on this week’s Raw, Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns promised to inform fans of his future plans on the show,
and it appears that these plans could involve either Rollins or the American Nightmare. Seth Rollins is the only man to have a singles win over the
Tribal Chief, albeit by DQ, while Rhodes has vowed to become a World Champion now that he’s back, and this could all make for an interesting situation on tonight’s two-hour broadcast.
AEW is moving forward without Cody Rhodes, but as you’d imagine, plenty of people are interested in the company’s reaction to what transpired last weekend.
At WrestleMania: Saturday, Rhodes made his return to WWE after years in AEW, but you won’t hear much from Tony Khan.
Speaking to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, the AEW President, CEO, General Manager and Head of Creative was asked about his thoughts on Rhodes now that he’s returned
to WWE, and quickly moved on to another subject: “I did lose a very prominent free agent. But we’re debuting one [on Wednesday’s Dynamite] in
Samoa Joe. In the past 30 days, we’ve also debuted Toni Storm, who was incredible last week in her win against The Bunny, and Jeff Hardy, one of the biggest stars in wrestling.
We have a lot of excitement happening here, and that’s our focus.”
Khan didn’t want to speak about Cody Rhodes, though its worth noting that this is part of an agreement between himself and the American Nightmare.
In an interview with Variety released after his WWE return, Cody explained that he’s rooting for AEW, but won’t go into the details of his departure:
“I chose to remain silent about my departure from AEW and I’m going to keep my word on that. There’s no shoot interview. There’s no nefarious tale that’s going to be told.
There were all these different theories and none of them are correct. I mean, there were things about money and creative
control. They were printed as fact and it’s been a very difficult two months to see that, when the reality is it was just time. It was a personal matter and we couldn’t move past it.”
In that same interview, Cody expressed his continuing support for AEW, saying he has nothing but respect for his fellow executives vice presidents the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega.
Speaking about Khan specifically, Cody thanked him for bankrolling AEW in their early days, saying his name will go in the history books of wrestling, but it was now time for him
to move on. Closing the interview with saying he now has a second chance to achieve his dream of being WWE
World Champion, Cody is moving forward with his career, and we’ll have to see if he can fulfill the promise made to his father.
Rhodes will likely have some huge matches coming up, especially at WWE’s second biggest show of the year Summerslam, but the company isn’t booking that far in
advance for Rhodes, or anybody else.
When Ringside News asked, they were told that WWE has no matches locked don for Summerslam yet, and that t hey’ve only just got Backlash booked.
Not only have matches not been decided for Summerslam, but possible matches haven’t even been discussed at this time, but it’s something WWE will have to think about when the time is right.
WWE has four months between now and Summerslam, and some big events in that time, most notably the unpredictable Money in the Bank Premium Live Event, but at this time,
the biggest party of the summer is still to receive any focus.
At WrestleMania 38, Mr. McMahon broke a streak of his own last Sunday, as he defeated Pat McAfee at the show of shows.
This marks The Chariman’s first win at his greatest creation, after previously losing to his son Shane, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, but not everyone wanted to see McMahon step
back in the ring. Fightful Select has learned that the Boss made the decision to wrestle months before the show, and
numerous people told him, especially from creative that him competing was a “terrible idea.” Nevertheless, McMahon persisted and it seems those
people got on board, as the reported added that in the days since WrestleMania, there’s been plenty of laughs had by the team and McMahon about the fun match.
Speaking about the botched Stone Cold Stunner, McMahon realises that his sell of the move was terrible, but has a philosophy is that even if people were laughing, they were
entertained, and that’s what matters at the end of the day.
It’s said that McMahon himself laid out the entire post-match angle, including Austin Theory’s music playing, though the Chairman seemed shocked and worried when he heard the song.
Fightful states that at first, the WWE CEO was reacting because he thought it was the cue for Stone Cold’s theme, which caused many laughs backstage.
The Chairman did not appear on this week’s Raw, though Theory has continued to call himself the best investment McMahon has ever made, teasing that this programme
between the two will continue.
More from AEW now as William Regal joined the company this year, after being released from WWE following a 20+ year tenure.
This week, Regal sat down with the AEW Unrestricted podcast, and had plenty to say about his time with the company so far.
Speaking about his WWE release, Regal said how it marked the first time since he was 16 yearsmold that he was without a job, and said he initially planned on taking a year off to see his family.
That was until Bryan Danielson gave him a call and spoke about AEW, and Regal said that the American Dragon’s enthusiasm for AEW is what won him over.
Addressing his career now he’s an AEW signed performer, Regal remains unsure what exactly he’s meant to do as his role has differed from what he did for WWE:
“I still don’t know what I am doing there,” he said. “I am like, ‘I can’t believe this is working out.’ It’s organically turned into what this incredible opportunity is. But also, I am 53,
but I am walking into a new company, I have just come from another company, and I am trying to watch everything and see
all this young talent, and my brain is going. But you don’t have to do that anymore, that’s not your job, but I still can’t help it.”
With decades of experience in and out of the ring, William Regal is a fantastic signing for AEW, and will continue to appear with Danielson and Jon Moxley for the foreseeable future.
Now, Lacey Evans has been absent from WWE TV for over a year after announcing her pregnancy in February 2021.
In October last year, the Sassy Southern Belle celebrated the birth of her second child and she could be back as soon as tonight.
That’s according to Mike Johnson of PW Insider who reports that Evans is set to appear during the upcoming taping of SmackDown in Milwaukee.
Evans is expected to appear on tonight’s edition of SmackDown but the Sassy Southern Belle is doing all she can to convince the fans otherwise.
After reports broke about her impending return, Evans took to social media to share a picture of herself and her baby, saying that she’s in her home town right now and doesn’t have any
clue what the fans are talking about.
Looking absolutely jacked in the pic, Evans certainly looks ready to get back in the ring, and that will likely be tonight, despite what the WWE Superstar has to say.
For years, Johnny Gargano was considered the heart and soul of NXT as his career with WWE both began and ended on the brand.
Leaving last December after his contract expired, Gargano departed without a non-compete clause but chose not to use it, and hasn’t wrestled since leaving.
Gargano’s reasoning is that he wanted to spend all his energy on his growing family, as he and Candice LeRae recently became parents, and in an interview with Chris Van Vliet of Insight
Gargano discussed when his time in the ring will wrap up for good:
“I have a great relationship with everyone there [NXT] and I’m very lucky that I have that. That’s always in the back of my mind of what I’m going to do after wrestling. There is a big part
of me that says I only want to wrestle until I’m 40 and that’s only six years away at this point. I feel I only have five years left to really maximize whatever I’m going to do in this.”
The first ever NXT Triple Crown Champion, we’ll have to wait and see where Gargano wrestles next, as the clock is ticking on his time in the ring.
In 2019, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey made history as part of the first ever women’s main event at WrestleMania, but it was the Man who left the show standing tall.
WWE hadn’t exactly helped the match, as they continually changed who was going to be in it, and added the winner takes all stipulation mere days before the show, and the match itself
had its problems. Not only was the finish botched as Rousey’s shoulders were off the mat, but the crowd was
noticeably quiet for the bout, and speaking to Sports Illustrated, Lynch’s husband Seth Rollins blamed that on the long show:
The longer it got, the worse it was. And the one in question is the New York WrestleMania which literally, from the pre-show to the finale was like seven straight hours and that is obnoxious
to the ring until after midnight. And that main event which was that is way too much wrestling. And mind you, my wife won the main event that night. They didn’t go awesome
and super historic suffered from just the crowd being drained. They wanted to be there for everything but you only have so much energy.”
Instead of one super long show, WWE are now hosting two shorter nights of WrestleMania, and with the success these shows have been, expect this to be a permanent change
from now on.
Earlier this year, Corey Graves told TMZ that he has been medically cleared to compete, after a lengthy retirement due to injuries.
Graves has said in subsequent interviews that he does plan on wrestling again, and he may be locking up with his Smackdown counterpart later this year.
Speaking to Wrestling Inc this week, Graves discussed Pat McAfee's match at Wrestlemania 38 and teased a feud with the former NFL lineman:
"There’s only one night a year Raw and SmackDown competes in head-to-head competition, Survivor Series. I hope, no, I am going to start politicking now. I think McAfee
and Graves at Survivor Series."
Graves also joked about the much-maligned 2011 feud between Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler, saying that he and Pat will surpass that standard.
With Survivor Series 2022 still over half a year away, very little is known about this November's Premium Live Event, but it may be a matter of time before Graves finally wrestles again, this time
against Pat McAfee.
Graves wants to wrestle at Survivor Series and if he does he’ll compete as a married man, after tying the knot with Carmella this week.
On social media, photos spread of the happy couple’s reception, and there were some interesting names in attendance.
As you’d expect, there were plenty of WWE Superstars around but AEW’s Jon Moxley was also spotted, as was his wife Renee Paquette.
Both have left WWE, but clearly remain close friends with many still working in the company, and this made for some interesting photos from the reception of the happy couple.
The past week has been mixed for the couple, who got married after Carmella and Queen Zelina lost the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania 38.
For the match, Carmella wore a white face mask to protect her, but that had some special help from an unlikely source.
Jason Baker, WWE’s go-to mask guy tweeted this week that it was Corey Graves’ son who helped him and effects legend Tom Savini make the mask, which was built at
Callosum studios.
Graves will be missing from next week’s Raw, and will be replaced by Jerry Lawler, as he and his blushing bride will be enjoying their honeymoon after one truly wild week.
And we’re ending today with Rick Boogs, who suffered a serious injury during his WrestleMania 38 SmackDown Tag Team Title match in which he teamed with Shinsuke Nakamua.
Boogs injured his patellar tendon during their match with The Usos, and we have an update on his condition, as PW Insider reports:
“WWE star Rick Boogs underwent successful surgery to repair his quad tear earlier this week in Birmingham, Alabama, PWInsider.com has confirmed.
We are told Boogs is slated to leave Birmingham this weekend to return home and begin the process of healing and rehabbing the injury.”
It’s been said that Boogs is expected to miss a couple of months of in-ring time due to his injury, and we’re continuing to wish him a speedy recovery in the coming weeks.