Here's your wrestling news for may 26th 2022
And your headlines for today include
WWE Made A Major Change With Regards To Money In The Bank 2022!
Vince McMahon Adds Another Item To WWE ’s Banned Word List
Best And Worst Of AEW Dynamite: Wardlow Destroys Shawn Spears Inside A Steel Cage, Surprising Loss For Former WWE Star
Why Scorpio Sky Was Only Featured In A Backstage Segment?
Did AEW Pick A Wrong Winner In Owen Hart Cup Semis?
Tammy Lynn Sytch’s Boyfriend Says Blame For Fatal Car Wreck Doesn’t Fall On Her
Alexa Bliss Publicly Slams Fan Who Threatened To Shoot Her & Ryan Cabrera
AEW Considered Karrion Kross As Part Of MJF & Wardlow’s Storyline
Why Sting Pulled From AEW Double Or Nothing Fan Fest ?
Cm Punk WWE Pipe bomb Promo Referenced On AEW Dynamite
Ex-WWE Personality Believes It Won't Take Fans Long To Turn On Cody Rhodes
Brandi Rhodes Drops Cryptic Tease On Anniversary Of Her WWE Release! And More!
We’re kicking off today with WWE Money in the Bank 2022, which at this time is scheduled to take place at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium.
The venue is incredibly large, and played host to Summerslam 2021 last year, but with tickets not selling as well as hoped, WWE may have to make drastic action.
That’s according to Brad Shepard, who reports that WWE is planning on moving Money in the Bank 2022 to another venue in Las Vegas, presumably a smaller venue.
It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, as WWE changed the site of WrestleMania 7 because of low ticket sales, and claimed at the time that a bomb threat
against then-heel WWF Champion Sgt. Slaughter prompted the move.
We’ll have to see when WWE announces this venue change, as for all their talk about stadium events with massive crowds, Money in the Bank tickets aren’t moving like they had hoped.
On WWE TV there are certain words that are banned and that a Superstar should never say on their programming.
During this week’s Raw, Jimmy Smith corrected himself during Seth Rollins’ attack on Cody Rhodes, and that’s because the word attack is now on the list of banned terms.
During his weekly Raw review, Bryan Alverez claimed that the word has been removed, primarily because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
A source in WWE told Alverez that since Russia attacked Ukraine, WWE want nothing to do with the word attack, and that’s why Smith corrected himself and said Rollins had assaulted the American Nightmare.
This is an interesting replacement, as when most people hear the word assault, they’re likely to think of sexual assault, which is som ething WWE definitely doesn’t want associated with their product.
With Russian conflict against Ukraine showing no signs of slowing down, It may be a while before a Superstar is “attacked” again, but they can still be assaulted by their opponents.
Over to AEW next, as the TNT Champion Scorpio Sky is in theory, one of the biggest stars the company has at this time, but you wouldn’t know it by recent booking.
In recent weeks, Sky hasn’t been featured prominently, and was briefly shown on last week’s programming when Tay Conti and Sammy Guevara destroyed his title belt.
This week was no different, as he was backstage with Dan Lam bert and Ethan Page on Dynamite, as the American Top Team foun der promised a new TNT Title that’ll debut on this week’s Rampage.
The main issue with this is that All Elite Wrestling should have done the new belt reveal on Dynamite, especially the go-home ahead of a major pay-per-view, instead of on Rampage.
With the timing of this week’s Rampage still a little uncertain because of the NBA, don’t expect a great viewership this Friday, despite the new championship design’s introduction.
Dynamite also saw the advancement of the Owen Hart Foundation tournaments, as Britt Baker defeated Toni Storm to qualify for the finals this Sunday.
This result was a surprise, not because of any doubts of Baker’s caliber as a wrestler, as we know that she is one of the best women’s wrestlers competing today.
No the result was a surprise because fans expected Storm to get a push, and she had been a favourite to win the entire tournament.
Instead, it’ll be the former AEW Women’s World Champion who could now get another push, and while she is certainly worthy of a big spot, this particular win would’ve done Storm much more good.
The opening match of AEW Dynamite saw Wardlow face Shawn Spears in a steel cage match, with MJF serving as the guest referee.
Mr. Mayhem needed to win this one to get his bout against The Salt of the Earth at Double or Nothing and despite the odds being stacked against him, the powerhouse delivered.
Wardlow actually got the win with a little help from Spears, who accidentally took MJF out with a steel chair and there was an incredible moment early on where he broke free from handcuffs
MJF refused to release him.
Before being taken out, MJF had been doing his best to help Spears win the match, but as soon as The Salt of the Earth was taken out, there was only going to be one winner.
A powerbomb symphony was more than enough to put Spears away, booking Wardlow a match against MJF at Double or Nothing, in one of the best performances of the big man’s career.
We’ve got an update on the Tammy Sytch case, after the WWE Hall of Famer had her bond revoked earlier this month.
We have previously reported that the family of the man killed, Julian Lasseter, were looking to file a civil lawsuit against Sytch, but have been unsuccessful, because to do so she’d need to
be in New Jersey, and she’s currently incarcerated in Florida.
The lawsuit in question is seeking $100,000 in “excess” damages, and while Sytch herself hasn’t responded, her boyfriend James Pente did so recently.
According to PW Insider, Pente, who Sytch was driving to see and who’s car she was driving, has denied any negligence on his part, and demanded “strict proof” from the Lasseter family that he had
some responsibility in the accident.
He also denied he was responsible for Tammy Sytch’s actions, but has also denied that Sytch herse;f was responsible for his death.
Using the same defence Sytch herself has made, Pente claimed that Lasseter’s death was not the result of the accident, but that Julian Lasseter instead died of a pre-existing medical condition that
just happened to occur at the time of the crash. Pente also alleges that Lasseter did not wear a seat- belt at the time of the crash, and that the crash
did not cause any new injuries to the 75-year-old driver, nor did it aggrevate any pre-existing conditions, instead saying it was caused “by an independent and/or intervening cause.”
Police records have shown that Sytch was driving Pente’s vehicle when it collided with Lasseter’s vehicle on March 25th, but Pente has also denied ownership of the car, and has requested a jury trial.
Sytch has both a criminal and civil case against her, but she’s not the only one in hot water, and we’ll keep following this case as more updates come out.
At AEW Double or Nothing 2022, MJF will face Wardlow, but only after the former henchman went through a lot of roadblocks to get his match.
Earlier this month, MJF brought in Impact Wrestling’s W. Morrisey for a match against Wardlow, but there was a different star who could have made the appearance.
Fightful Select has reported that Killer Kross was originally approached to face Wardlow, but that the two sides couldn’t come to terms for the appearance, and decided against it.
When Kross learned that his wife Scarlett Bordeaux wouldn’t be involved, the former NXT Champion got hesitant, believing that debuting on AEW TV just to lose to Wardlow was too similar to
his WWE Raw debut last year where he lost to Jeff Hardy.
With that said, sources close to the situation told Fightful that the two sides remain on good terms, and there’s a possibility of them doing business in the future.
On the Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor Post-show scrum, Tony Khan said he is a big fan of Kross and Scarlett’s work, and was open to working with them.
Kross may not have debuted on AEW programming yet, but that may have been for the best, and don’t be surprised to see the two- time former NXT Champion, and his wife, on Dynamite or
Rampage in the near future.
More from AEW next as Sting was meant to be at Las Vegas this weekend for a pre-Double or Nothing meet and greet, but that won’t be happening.
It’s been reported that the Icon “has not been cleared to travel” and will miss the fan event, with AEW offering refunds for fans who purchased tickets to see the Stinger.
There’s no word yet on what exactly is keeping Sting away from the show, or if last week’s segment, where he took a double superkick by the Young Bucks and had his ankle smashed by
Kyle O’Reilly, was done to write him off TV.
All we know for certain is that Sting is off AEW TV for the time being and we’ll have to see when he’s able to return.
Now, last night’s episode of Dynamite took place in Las Vegas, which holds a very special place in the heart of CM Punk.
It was in Sin City eleven years ago that Punk cut his infamous pipe bomb, and there was no shortage of references to the iconic promo on Dynamite.
In a face-to-face with AEW World Champion Hangman Adam Page, Punk called the pipebomb “the biggest moment” of his career, while Page said he how he imagined himself sitting cross legged on
the ramp and tearing apart Punk, just like the former WWE Champion did on the June 27th, 2011 episode of Raw
Page explained that the only reason he didn’t, is because he feels pity for Punk, as neither man held back in their war of words.
This Sunday will mark Punk’s first World title opportunity in nine years, with his last being against The Rock at Elimination Chamber 2013, and we’ll have to see if Punk can get the job done later this week.
Since returning to WWE, Cody Rhodes has been one of their most prominently featured stars, and has quickly become arguably the number one babyface in the company.
Two weeks ago on Raw, WWE introduced the Cody Countdown, a clock ticking down for Rhodes’ appearance on the show, as the company is all-in on pushing the American Nightmare.
WWE may want Cody as the most beloved babyface, but according to Vince Russo, this plan is already starting to backfire.
Speaking to Sportskeeda, Russo explained how WWE are eventually going to put-off fans by forcing Cody’s over-the-top bo oking, saying it that its “not long at all” before audiences turn on him.
Fans will remember that in AEW, the booking of Cody turned fans off, and that the babyface was often one of the most heavily-booed stars during his three years.
WWE is no stranger to this response, as Roman Reigns dealt with hostile crowds for years because of his booking, and now the company may be able to make the same mistake with Cody Rhodes.
And we’re ending with another member of the Rhodes family, Brandi, who didn’t join her husband in WWE, despite also leaving AEW at the same time.
While Brandi did appear in backstage footage from WrestleMania 38, she’s yet to make a return on WWE TV, but that could soon change.
This week marks the sixth anniversary of Brandi’s release on WWE, and to celebrate, Rhodes teased something big, tweeting that “the rest is still unwritten…”
Channelling Natasha Bedingfield, Brandi didn’t go into detail about what she has planned next in her career, but its clear that she’s cooking up something.
Whether that means returning to WWE, where she worked as Eden Stiles, or something entirely different, that remains to be seen, but Brandi may soon be reuniting with her husband on screen.