Here's more wrestling news for October 26th 2021
And your headlines for Afternoon include
WWE unveils 2022 pay-per-view schedule; What To Expect In 2022?
Vince McMahon Approached Zelina Vega Backstage After Her Queen’s Crown Win!
EX WWE Wrestler Talks About Cussing Out Vince McMahon!
Junior Dos Santos Drags CM Punk’s UFC Career!
WWE SmackDown Replay Reportedly Draws More Viewers Than Live AEW Saturday Night Dynamite!
EX WWE Wrestler Celebrates Huge Milestone In His Sobriety!
"I Would Have Been Fired"- Rhea Ripley On What Saved Her WWE Job!
Christian Cage Pulls Off Incredible Feat Across Companies In 2021!
WWE Fired Jason Sensation After Superstars Complained About His Impressions Of Them!
"That Was Definitely Up To Destiny" - Rey Mysterio Shares Surprising Opinion On This Year's WWE Draft!
Dolph Ziggler Reacts To Fan Telling Him To Join AEW! And More!
We’re starting off today with WWE, who had to forego live crowds due to factors beyond their control for over a year, but the company’s
return to touring shows no signs of slowing down. Yesterday, WWE confirmed their 2022 Pay Per View
schedule, with some interesting shows and dates making the cut. We can now confirm following months of
conflicting reports that WrestleMania 38 will be a two-night event, starting on Saturday April 2nd, and ending on April 3rd
With AT&T Stadium able to hold around 100,000 fans per night, a two-night Mania will make an enormous amount of cash, and will be able
to accommodate more fans from around the world who haven’t been at WrestleMania in some time
Saturday may seem like an odd day for Pay Per View, but that’s what the majority of events next year will look like, as all Pay Per Views except
night 2 of WrestleMania, and the events in May and June will happen on Saturday nights. Interestingly, the September show will be on either t
the 3rd or the fourth, with a name for the show, and location yet to be decided and some have speculated that this will be the long-rumoured UK Pay-Per-View.
Fans had hoped that Summerslam 2022 would be the UK event, marking the 30th anniversary of Summerslam 1992 from Wembley Stadium
but the biggest party of the Summer will instead be on July 30th in Nashville. The February and October events are also without
a date and location, but its likely those will be Saudi Arabia events, as WWE’s agreement with the Saudi General Sports Authority requires at least two
events a year. Like the Pay-Per-View match cards themselves, WWE’s schedule is always subject to change
but for now, the company is shaking things up in a major way next year
When Zelina Vega was released last year, fans were outraged over the circumstances behind her departure, as she was let-go minutes after
expressing her support for unions. Returning to WWE in July 2021, with her Twitch streaming account intact, Vega is now WWE’s
official Queen, having won the first Queen’s Crown Tournament at Crown Jewel. Sitting down with the true queen of WWE, Sports
Illustrated asked about her historic victory and what happened after she donned the crown. She replied:
“Vince [McMahon] walked up to me after the match in the back and said, ‘You walked in here queen, and now it’s official. I almost lost it. This is
finally my time to show out to everyone who I am… I’m not in anyone’s shadow. This is my time to show why I am a star. Queen Zelina, it feels so
incredible to say that.” Vega has a lot of eyes on her now, and that’s something the Queen knows all too well, as she
added that she’s looking to prove herself every time she steps in the ring. Last night’s RAW saw the official coronation of
Queen Zelina and her defeat Doudrop in a Tournament finals rematch, as things are looking good for the one true Queen of WWE
Now, in 2006, Sabu was brought to WWE as part of the revamped ECW brand, but his tenure was short-lived.
Released after less than a year, Sabu never held gold working for Vince McMahon, but he did once infamously take a dig at the Chairman of the Board
and his ability to take bumps. Speaking to Title Match Wrestling, the 56-year-old ECW original discussed a table-spot between
himself and then-WWE Champion John Cena in 2006, a spot that Vince wanted to see rehearsed before the show.
The plan was for Sabu to put Cena through the announcer’s table with a top-rope leg drop, as Sabu explained:
We walk out to the ring and he [McMAHON] goes, ‘I did a bump on this table and I busted my ass.’ I went, ‘Well, that’s you.’ But I shouldn’t have said
that. I go, ‘That’s you, of course you busted your ass.'” “You’re the sh*ts.’ But I shouldn’t have said that. ‘Yeah, that’s you but I’m not gonna do
that.’ Even if it’s possible, I’m not gonna listen to him. Yes, he did [take offense to the comment], yes, he did.”
That table spot took place on the June 19th RAW, before Sabu would lose to Cena in an Extreme Rules Lumberjack match at that year’s Vengeance
in what would be just one of many high-profile losses the former ECW World Tag Champion would suffer before his abrupt release in May 2007.
Since joining AEW, CM Punk has become one of the company’s most beloved and successful stars, boasting a 4-0 winning streak thus far.
Winning is something that didn’t come to Punk during his brief UFC tenure, as he lost both his fights, albeit his UFC 225 loss to Mike Jackson
has since been overturned following Jackson’s failed drugs test result going public. Punk isn’t the only MMA name in AEW, as the
company recently saw Junior Dos Santos team up with Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page, helping his team beat the Inner Circle.
Speaking to ‘Throwing Down with Renee Paquette and Miesha Tate,’ dos Santos shared his views on Punk’s UFC stint, saying the Best
in the World didn’t succeed: ”He didn’t do very well in MMA, but he got the courage to go there and try it. Many guys don’t
even try it.” Dos Santos, a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, has said he’s looking forward to
tussling with fellow MMA fighter Jake Hager, and wants to put him through a table, but for Punk, we’re sure he’s happy being back as a
pro-wrestler after his failed run in the Octagon
Earlier this month, WWE SmackDown and AEW Rampage went head to head for 30 minutes, in a war both sides have claimed victory in.
Although SmackDown got more viewers, and tied in the demographics, Rampage won when it comes to fans aged 18-49 during the first 30 minutes of t
their show, and WWE has since fired back. During last Saturday’s edition of Dynamite, FOX aired an encore presentation of Friday’s
SmackDown, including a special look back at Crown Jewel. In an update, fast nationals from Nielsen shows
that the SmackDown replay emerged the victor, drawing 578,000 viewers to FOX compared to Dynamite’s 515,000 who tune in to TNT.
The war between WWE and AEW is showing no signs of slowing down, and we’re curious what Tony Khan will do next after his flagship show
came up short against SmackDown’s encore last Saturday night.
As an inductee of both the WWE and Impact Wrestling Halls of Fame, Jeff Jarrett has had a celebrated career in the ring, but Double-J is
is now celebrating a much bigger accomplishment out of the squared circle. It’s no secret that Jarrett struggled with substance
abuse issues for years, and lost his executive position with Impact in 2017 due to his addiction to alcohol.
That same year, Jarrett quit drinking, and on Twitter this week, showed up his badge, celebrating four years of sobriety.
Wrestling personalities including Jake Crist, Corey Graves, Conrad Thompson and Karrion Kross all shared their congrats to Jeff on this massive
accomplishment, as the former WCW World Champion continues to move on from his past demons.
As a former NXT, NXT UK and RAW Women’s Champion, in addition to being one-half of the current WWE Women’s Tag Champions,
Rhea Ripley is a bonafide star of the company. Ripley is certainly one of the most visually striking Superstars, and that’s all down to a
dramatic transformation she underwent in 2018. When a Ripley fan page on Instagram shared an old photo of the Australian, asking what would
have happened had she kept this look, Ripley herself responded, saying “I would have been fired.”
It’s impossible to say whether WWE would have actually fired the talented Australian Superstar if she had kept her naturally long blonde hair,
but in an industry of many talented blonde women, Ripley believes her choice to change into the short haired rebel fans know today is what saved her career.
In January, Christian Cage made his long-awaited return to wrestling competing in the Men’s Royal Rumble match after a seven year absence.
This would also mark Christian’s last WWE match, as he’s since competed for AEW and Impact Wrestling, and has pulled off an incredible
achievement. After competing in the main-event match at the Royal Rumble, Cage headlined AEW All Out in
September against AEW World Champion Kenny Omega, and this weekend, main-evented Impact’s Bound for Glory against Josh Alexander.
With this third match, Cage has main-evented three pay-per-views in three different companies within the same year, an incredible accolade that
may never be replicated. In AEW, Christian Cage’s motto is that he’ll ‘Outwork Everyone,’ and the former World Champion is
certainly living up to his claim with this incredible accolade
If you’re an Attitude Era fan and were watching at the time, you may remember Jason Sensation, the wrestling impersonator that won fans over
with his impressions. In his most iconic performance, Jason parodied Owen Hart during a segment where DX mocked
Nation of Domination, but the good will he had with fans didn’t extend to the wrestlers themselves. Sitting down with the Two-Man Power Trip of
Wrestling podcast, Sensation discussed a three- year deal he was offered, but that he was fired shortly after when he started kicking off house
shows with his impressions: “I’m doing, ‘Finally The Rock has come back to Toronto, or you didn’t know, you’re ass better
call somebody’, I’m doing this at the beginning of shows, these guys are backstage watching their gimmicks getting used, and then when
when they come out to do their gimmicks, it’s not as big of a pop, or they think maybe I took some of their pop away… Some of the boys went
behind my back and kiboshed my hosting job. It sucked. I lost that hosting gig because too many guys complained about using their gimmicks
Jason Sensation was part of some great WWE moments, albeit DX’s use of blackface when parodying the Nation has seen the segment
removed from Peacock, and we can’t help but wonder what the talented impersonator would’ve done had he been able to stay in the company.
Back to the present, as AEW boasts a huge roster of names, many of which have come from WWE.
From CM Punk to Bryan Danielson, Mark Henry to Paul Wight, some fans have even branded the company ‘All Ex WWE,’ and there’s still plenty of
of big names in Vince McMahon’s company that could join. When Dolph Ziggler recently shared a photo of
himself and Daniel Bryan from Bragging Rights 2010, saying it was “back when I was good,” one fan suggested Dolph should jump to
AEW, which got a “please unfollow” response by the Show-Off. Although Ziggler’s carer has never reached the
heights many believe it should have, Dolph remains In WWE, despite being openly critical for years about his position.
A former two-time World Champion, Ziggler’s last shot at a World title was against Drew McIntyre at last year’s Extreme Rules, but the Show Off clearly
doesn’t feel like there’s anything better waiting for him in AEW.
And we’re ending today with the recent WWE draft, as both Rey and Dominik Mysterio were selected by RAW, meaning the father-son duo
will continue to work closely together. With Dominik just over a year into his career, keeping the two together makes sense,
but it would’ve been interesting to see how the pair fare on different shows. That’s at least what Rey believes, as in an
interview with Graham Matthews of Bleacher Report, the former World Champion said it was destiny that brought them both to RAW, but
splitting would’ve given Dominik some independence. Rey added that he’s enjoyed every moment of
stepping in the ring with his son, calling it a “rebirth” of his career. At 46-years-old, Rey may not have many years
left in the ring, and while independence for Dominik may not have come at this year’s draft, the former SmackDown Tag Champion
will have to make it on his own eventually.