Here's your wrestling news for March 23rd 2022
And your headlines for today include
Big E’s says neck injury could have been much worse! He could’ve died on TV
WWE receives backlash for treatment of women wrestlers at WrestleMania
Update on plans for Omos to face former WWE World Champion
Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic winners are crowned! Major change to NXT Stand and Deliver
NXT 2.0 Superstar reveals gnarly injury while in the shower
“Why wouldn’t I?” NWA World Heavyweight Champion Matt Cardona reveals possible future plans in wrestling
WWE has something extra special planned for WrestleMania kick off show
AEW Wrestler fires back to the Undertaker’s comments that modern wrestling lacks grit
Logan Paul reveals WrestleMania attire for in-ring debut
WWE launches delivery restaurant service in Dallas for WrestleMania 38
Kayla Braxton pokes fun at her WWE 2K22 character In hilarious way And more!
We’re kicking off today with Big E, who continues to recover from the broken neck he suffered on SmackDown earlier this month.
The former WWE Champion has remained optimistic despite his injury, and we now know that things could’ve been much worse for Big E.
On Twitter, the SmackDown Superstar explained that he’s had his first doctor’s appointment post-injury, and that his doctor explained that due to the C1 vertebrae
fracture, he narrowly avoided having a stroke. He explained that the damage to his neck could’ve easily seen Big E be paralysed or even be killed
due to the nature of the injury, calling this realisation “very sobering.”
Big E concluded his tweet by saying how “life feels even more precious and valuable now,” and that certainly is the case.
There’s no timeline on when Big E will be back in the ring, but it won’t be as long as first feared because he doesn’t need surgery, and things could have been
much, more worse for the New Day star.
Big E won’t be a part of WrestleMania 38, as the show is just days away from taking place next weekend.
At this time, three women’s matches have been announced, with RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch facing Bianca Belair, SmackDown Women’s
Champion Charlotte Flair and the WWE Women’s Tag Champions Carmella and Queen Zelina facing three other teams.
This means a total 14 women will be competing next weekend, but some have questioned the motivations for these matches.
On Twitter, users bashed WWE for booking no women’s matches that aren’t for championship gold, since there’s plenty of men’s matches that have stories not related
titles. Whether it be Edge and AJ Styles or Cody Rhodes’ rumoured return against Seth Rollins, there’s
plenty of storyline ideas that the male Superstars get, not afforded to the women of WWE. There was a time where it seemed all female feuds
were about a man, and WWE has definitely made improvements in this regard, but many still aren’t happy with the lack of story options for the female talent.
One name rumoured to be on the show is Omos, who is expected to face Bobby Lashley at WrestleMania.
This is an interesting call, considering the Almighty’s injury he suffered during the Royal Rumble, but WWE has faith in the two-time former World Champion.
According to Mike Johnson of PW Insider, Lashley is expected to be medically cleared for an in-ring return by the time WrestleMania 38 takes place, but added that
we do not know for 100% sure whether he’s been cleared already.
It was earlier this week that it was reported that Omos and Lashley would be facing off, but neither side, nor WWE have confirmed the match.
In an update, Fightful report that Omos will face someone who will “surprise” fans at WrestleMania, which fits Lashley to a tee.
If not Lashley, then WWE will have to find someone else who will surprise the crowd in AT&T Stadium, a venue that Lashley was at just last week, but WWE are hoping
on the Almighty being cleared by next weekend.
Over to NXT 2.0 next, as this week’s episode saw the finals of the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, pitting IoShirai and Kay Lee Ray against Wendy Choo and Dakota
Kai. With Shirai a former NXT Women’s Champion, Ray a former NXT UK Women’s Champion, and Kai
both the inaugural Women’s Dusty Classic winner and former NXT Women’s Tag Champion, this match certainly wasn’t lacking in star power.
In the end, it was Shirai and Ray who got the win, after Io hit a moonsault on Wendy Choo and Ray followed up with a KRL bomb to seal the deal.
Post-match, the winners announced that they would be cashing in their title opportunity, but not for the Women’s Tag Team Champions, but will instead face
NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose at Stand and Deliver.
This makes the upcoming title match a fatal four way that’ll also feature Cora Jade, and time will tell who stands tall at Stand and Deliver on April 2nd.
Cora Jade now has a much smaller chance of leaving Stand and Deliver as the new NXT Women’s Champion, but even her journey to the event has been difficult.
On Twitter, Jade informed fans that she stepped on a razor in the shower, and as a result had been bleeding from her foot for 30 minutes.
Jade thankfully didn’t include any pictures of her busted foot, and we hope that she makes a full recovery ahead of unquestionably the most important match of her
life that’ll take place just hours before WrestleMania: Saturday gets underway.
In April 2020, Zack Ryder was released by WWE, bringing an end to his decade-and-a-half career with the company.
Now going by his real-name Matt Cardona, the former WWE jobber has reinvented himself into a bonafide star,holding six different championships right now
despite not being signed to any exclusive contracts. Cardona has certainly proven himself outside WWE, but that doesn’t mean he’s ruling out a return,
as the reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion told the Straight to Hell podcast: “If Vince McMahon called me, or Bruce Prichard or
John Laurinaitis called me, of course I would pick up, of course I would have a conversation. Why wouldn’t I? I’d be lying right now if I said I never want
to wrestle at Madison Square Garden or I never want to wrestle at WrestleMania again. Anybody who says that is f****** lying, quite frankly.
Cardona went on to say that while he wouldn’t rule out a return to WWE, he’s on fire right now, and is hoping to prove that you don’t need to be in WWE or AEW to be a star.
While Ryder was a jobber for much of his WWE run, so was Drew McIntyre during the Scotsman’s first time with the company, and if Drew can return to become a fixture
of the main event, we can’t count out the same happening for the former Zack Ryder.
Back to WWE as we are now just 10 days away from WrestleMania 38 starting on April 2nd, and like all Premium Live Events, there’ll be a kickoff show before
things get started. This kick off show will be extra special, as PW Insider reports that not only will it be a two-hour
episode that’ll air on Peacock, but it will also air on the USA Network from 6 pm to 8pm EST. It’s not currently known whether WWE has plans to air
second kick off show for the Sunday night, where Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns will headline, but WWE are doing all they can to get people
not all that interested in wrestling to tune in.
Last week, The Undertaker appeared on the True Geordie podcast, and made his views clear on the modern-day state of wrestling.
In the past, the Deadman has said it saddens him to see wrestlers backstage making sure they look good and playing video games rather than carry knives
and guns backstage, and in this more recent era, the soon to be Hall of Famer said wrestling now lacks ‘grit.’
Blaming the “superhero era” and modern-day comic book movies, The Undertaker explained how wrestlers these days didn’t have to “come up and bust heads
in bars” to afford money to eat. One name who noticed what the Phenom had to say is Joey Janela, who responded sarcastically
saying that he’s going to one day open up a wrestling school where applicants need to have had at least two bar fights before they get in.
Since retiring from wrestling, the Undertaker has made it clear he believes the wrestling industry should be as difficult for new wrestlers as it was him when he was
him when he was starting out. Janela does have plans to one day open a wrestling school, as he told Denise Salcedo in an interview
earlier this month, but we doubt he’ll force people to be in bar fights first, no matter what the legendary deadman believes is right.
At WrestleMania, Logan Paul will make his wrestling in-ring debut when he teams with The Miz to face the Mysterios.
The popular Youtuber-turned-boxer has certainly embraced being a heel since his first appearance for WWE last year, and he’s given fans a sneak peak
at his WrestleMania attire.
On Instagram, Paul showed off a sketch of his in- ring gear which will feature full wrestling tights and boots in a black and yellow colour scheme.
Paul has claimed that wrestling has come more naturally to him than Bad Bunny, who has wowed fans with his in-ring work, and the Youtuber will have the
the chance to back this claim up next weekend.
WrestleMania 38 will be WWE’s biggest money-making show of the year, and the company is trying as many ways to part fans from their cash.
Last week, we reported on WWE trademarking the term ‘Smackadillas’ for the use in food and restaurant service and they’ve not wasted long to put it to use.
WWE Smackadillas has now officially launched as a delivery-only restaurant in Dallas which will be available through platforms including DoorDash, Uber Eats and
Grubhub until April 11th.
Not only will Smackadillas provide fans with WWE- themed food, but they’ll also take part in giveaways in the days running up to WrestleMania.
The restaurant it seems will only sell quesadillas, but if you’re in Dallas and got an appetite for some Vince McMahon-endorsed Mexican food, WWE Smackadillas
will fill that craving.
And we’re ending today with WWE 2K22 which this year features Kayla Braxton as a non playable character.
Braxton has previously commented on her character in the game, and the impressive bust the developers gave her, but it seems her virtual self can’t handler
her alcohol. When a fan shared a brief clip from the game where 00;10;13;01Braxton was swaying back and forth during an
interview, the real WWE announcer joked that her character must have had too much wine before showing up to work.
WWE 2K22 has been seen as a last-chance game for WWE and 2k22, as the two parties have been at o dds ever since the disastrous launch of 2K20,
but whatever game comes next, Braxton is loving the antics of her video game self.