Here's your wrestling news for January 31st 2022
And your headlines for today include
WrestleMania 39 matched booked over a year in advance! Who will face whom in California in 2023?
Who was originally slated to win the Women’s Royal Rumble match?
WWE Superstar and ex-AEW talent fire back at fan for sick joke about their daughter
How did WWE keep Drew McIntyre’s return a secret?
Huge announcement to be made on tonight’s Monday Night RAW
WWE has another huge match already booked for WrestleMani 38
Real reason for post-Universal title match beatdown revealed! Did Reigns go off script?
Former WWE and TNA wrestler accused of scamming students at his wrestling academy And more!
We’re kicking off today with the Royal Rumble Premium Live Event, where Ronda Rousey \ returned to win the Women’s Rumble match
earning herself a main-event Women’s title match at WrestleMania. Despite Rousey’s long-time rivalry with Becky Lynch,
it’s been reported that Rousey’s Mania match will be against SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair, but the Rowdy One hasn’t forgotten about the Man.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that WWE’s plan is for Rousey Vs. Lynch to happen at WrestleMania, but it’ll be at next year’s show in California.
This will mark the first singles match between Lynch and Rousey, something that fans have been wanting to see for years, especially as the reigning RAW
Women’s Champion is the only name to have a win over the UFC legend. Little is known about Rousey’s new contract,
but she’s expected to make regular appearances for the next year, and despite Mania 39 being 426 days away, one huge collision is already booked.
Rousey’s win was something that had been rumoured for the past week, but the plans for her victory was something WWE had in the pipeline well in advance.
Following her win, it was rumoured that Rousey was a last-minute addition to the match, and that the original winner was going to be Bianca Belair,
but that isn’t the case at all. On Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer explained that Rousey was always slated to win the match,
and the ever since she agreed upon a deal to return, that she was the only woman ever booked to win the Rumble.
It’s unclear just how long Rousey has been back with WWE, as although it was only in the last week that rumours circulated of her return, it’s likely she’s
been under contract for some time. Rousey will be on tonight’s RAW, but is expected to be a regular on SmackDown from now on,
and despite a roster with talented potential winners like Belair, Rhea Ripley or Sasha Banks, WWE only had one woman in mind when it came to the
Women’s Royal Rumble match.
Rousey’s victory in the women’s Rumble match was controversial to say the least, but one fan took things way too far with their comment on the match.
On Twitter, a fan shared a picture of Rousey pointing at the WrestleMania sign, joking that they’ve heard Big Swole’s daughter is back watching WWE, cause
somebody who looks like her won the Rumble. This was referencing Swole’s departure from AEW last December, and a podcast appearance
where she said her daughter had been drawn to WWE programming when she saw Big E and Bianca Belair in prominent main-event spots.
Swole was quick to fire back, saying the fan was showing “clown behaviour,” and that her kids are off limits when it comes to criticism.
Swole’s husband Cedric Alexander shared a similar sentiment, saying that he expects fans to have views on his matches or promos, but his daughter is not
a punchline. The fan in question has since deleted their ‘joke’ as they didn’t expect to be confronted of the
parents of the child they’re making fun of, and it goes to show that some things are still off limits in the world of professional wrestling
More news from the Royal Rumble, as Drew McIntyre returned during the Men’s Rumble match, making his first on-screen appearance since Day 1.
Prior to the match, it had been reported that McIntyre’s injury would keep him off TV until around WrrestleMania time, but the Scottish warrior worked hard to make
it to the Royal Rumble. That’s according to PW Insider, who state that McIntyre went above and beyond to make his
his return a surprise, including showing up the stadium during the Premium Live Event.
McIntyre’s return was also kept a secret from people behind the scenes, in order to prevent his appearance being leaked prior to the Men’s Rumble match.
Ulitmately, McIntyre was the final man eliminated in the Men’s Rumble match, and although a title match at WrestleMania is off the table, expect the former
WWE Champion to be back in the title picture soon enough.
McIntyre got close to winning his second Rumble match, but it was ultimately the Beast Incarnate who reigned supreme, and we won’t be waiting long to
see who he chooses to face.
On Twitter, it was announced that Lesnar will be on tonight’s RAW, and will announce who he’ll challenge at WrestleMania.
Right now, Lesnar’s options are either WWE Champion Bobby Lashley or Universal Champion Roman Reigns, and after months of reports, it’s expected that
he’ll step up to the Tribal Chief.
If so, this also implies that Reigns won’t lose the Universal title before WrestleMania, meaning he’ll retain at Elimination Chamber in Saudi Arabia,
but time will tell who stands tall between these two megastars this April.
With Lesnar expected to challenge Universal Champion Roman Reigns this April, this leaves Bobby Lashley without an opponent for WrestleMania, but that
match is already in the works. Ringside News reports that Lashley’s opponent for WrestleMania 38 has already been decided,
implying that he will enter Dallas, Texas as the WWE Champion. Before the Rumble, it was reported that Big E was
was the favourite to win’s the Men’s Rumble match, and the expected plan was for him to face Lashley at WrestleMania
With Big E not winning the Rumble, and having recently moved to SmackDown, any rumours of a Big E-Lashley title match are seemingly dead, but WWE does already
have someone in mind to get a WWE title match at their biggest show of the year.
More from last Saturday, as the Rumble Premium Live event kicked off with a hellacious Universal Championship match between Roman Reigns and
Seth Rollins, which the Architect won after Reigns got himself intentionally disqualified. This finish has been met with backlash from fans
who believe a deliberate DQ was beneath this story between the two Shield veterans, but t could’ve been much worse had the post-match
segment not happened. After Reigns retained his title, the Tribal Chief levelled Rollins with a series of chair shots,
and on his show, Meltzer explained that this was a deliberate call to get fans to boo something, other than the finish of the match.
Had this post-match attack not happened, the fans would’ve booed the match instead, and while there is still plenty of fans ticked off about what happened
between the two Superstars, WWE was able to make sure their heel Universal Champion got heat from the crowd in St. Louis.
And we’re ending today with some non-Royal Rumble news, as Ken Anderson has been levelled with some major accusations.
Formerly known as Mr. Kennedy in WWE, Anderson now runs his own wrestling academy, but has been \accused of corrupt business practices by his own
students. On Sunday, a reddit user claiming to be a student of his said that Anderson’s academy, called ‘The
Academy: School of Professional Wrestling’ has been closed for quite some time, and unlike other gyms in the area, hasn’t resumed activities in recent weeks.
The post also claimed that students who enrolled in the school over the past two years have received little to no training, and these claims were
corroborated by another users, who says when they signed up for a 30-minute free consultation, they were sent to
an empty warehouse, with no training equipment or trainers in sight. Another student who spoke to Bodyslam.net
verified these reports, saying that Anderson’s schools have yet to issue refunds and calling the Academy “super sketchy,” as would-be
wrestlers will think twice the next time they wish to train with the former TNA World Champion.