Here's your wrestling news for March 9th 2021
And your headlines for today include AEW Revolution Explosion Details! WWE Was Let Down By Christian Cage! Shane McMahon On Raw! WWE News! 3 00:00:20,987 --> 00:00:28,244 WWE Higher-Ups Were Let Down About Christian Jumping To AEW; When Did AEW Sign Him? How Often
Will He Wrestle?
Did WWE Give Away A Major Hint About Randy Orton’s Immediate Future?
Cody Rhodes On WWE NXT Leaving Wednesday After AEW ‘Destroyed Them For Over A Year’ !
Fan Footage Shows Heavy Booing & Angry Chants After Dud meslosions At AEW Revolution; Jon Moxley And Kenny
mega Reacts! What Is The Medical Update Of Both The Wrestlers?
Vince McMahon Reaches Out To Paul Wight!
Two Title Matches Announced For Next Week On WWE Monday Night Raw!
Bobby Lashley Breezes Through The Miz On RAW, But What's Next?
Bobby Lashley Reveals Response Of "Someone Close" To Brock Lesnar About Potential Dream Match;
Undertaker Reacts To Lashley – Lesnar Match!
Where is Keith Lee? And More!
We’re starting today with AEW Revolution, which saw Christian Cage make his debut for the All-Elite
promotion, pleasing some fans and disappointing others. Though Christian is a Hall of Fame
worthy name, many fans felt let down after Tony Khan promised the “biggest scoop ever,” especially after the
company’s signed names who fit that description much better, like Sting.
According to Fightful Select, there was some in WWE who were quote “let down that Christian made the move,” and that
in the end, this is on WWE for not having him locked into a deal. Though some in WWE were disappointed
one anonymous Superstar spoke highly of Christian, saying that if AEW makes him happy, they’re happy for him.
Tony Khan has also weighed in on AEW’s newest acquisition, saying:
“He was interested in wrestling on a regular basis and he gave me a call and said, ‘I’d really like to come wrestle
in AEW for you,’ and I said, ‘I really like to have you wrestle in AEW for me, that sounds awesome.’ It all came together
great, and I think it’s going to be really good.” Christian’s last full singles math in
WWE happened all the way back in 2014, and time will tell how the company books him now that he’s All-Elite.
WWE news, and it was at WrestleMania 35 that Randy Orton and AJ Styles collided in an entertaining
match, and the former WWE Champions rekindled their rivalry this week.
A match arguably better than their WrestleMania 35 encounter, things were cut short by Alexa Bliss,
who distracted Orton with a creepy pentagon and black ooze frothing from her mouth.
This distraction allowed Styles to hit the Phenomenal Forearm for the win, but in the process, Orton seemingly
turned face. We all know that Orton can be vicious, but right now, he seems to be little more
than a victim of Alexa Bliss’ mind- games. It’s hard not to see Orton as a face,
as he’s not being able to get through a single week without being tormented by Bliss, as this is all building to the
rumoured firefly funhouse match between Orton and the Fiend at WrestleMania.
Over to NXT and after a year fighting the Wednesday Night Wars, WWE’s Black and Gold brand is reportedly
moving to Tuesday Nights. One man who is very pleased about this is Cody Rhodes, who spoke to
Action Sports Jax, and claimed that AEW Dynamite has destroyed their competition. He explained:
“We have destroyed them for over a year now in that space. Them leaving, perhaps that opens up a different
viewership for us on Wednesdays. We’re not reactionary to their booking and won’t change
anything we do with what they decide to do on Wednesdays. There are a lot of smart people who work for WWE and
perhaps they are planning something else, maybe it’s Wednesday Night Raw for all I know. I’m not assuming their
white flag, moving to Tuesday nights, is a true white flag. I’ll wait and see. In the interim, we’ll continue to come up
with new content, great stories, and make new kings and queens on our roster. If you’re ever backstage at AEW
no one is talking about our competition.”
AEW could very well reach 1 million average weekly viewers with NXT out of the picture, and though time will tell
how the viewing figures for both shows go from here, NXT’s Tuesday move will certainly give fans a broader
opportunity to enjoy wrestling content.
AEW may have won the Wednesday Night Wars, but not all is fine for the company, as Revolution ended on a
complete dud. After the mesloding barbed-wire death match between Kenny Omega and Jon
Moxley, fans were promised that all the meslosives would detonate, but what we got instead was four sparklers from
the ringposts. This low-effort ending was only made worse by Eddie Kingston diving
on the injured Moxley to protect his friend, which seemed comical given how little danger he was actually in.
It’s clear that AEW themselves didn’t appreciate the ending either, and they certainly don’t want fans to see it,
as they’ve been issuing takedown notices to anyone who shares the ending moments of Revolution on
social media. The Twitter account of HeelByNature was just one of many wrestling news
outlets affected by AEW’s takedown measures, and some users questioned how AEW, which prides themselves
on being much more fan-orientated than WWE, have been so concerned about making sure the fans don’t see their ending.
AEW shows usually impress fans, but for all that Revolution got right, the ending left a sour taste in the mouths of the fans.
Fans online weren’t happy with how Revolution went off the air, and judging by videos shared online, neither were
the fans who attended the event. Online, fans have been sharing their personal reactions to the meslosions
at the end of the show, and you can hear a chorus of boos, with some fans even demanding a refund for their seats.
Unlike the videos we mentioned earlier AEW can’t take this content down as it doesn’t belong to them, and this
definitely isn’t the way AEW wanting their big dramatic moment to end at all.
Tony Khan has said that AEW is turning the dud ending into a storyline, but we feel that the damage has
already been done with this failed ending to the Revolution Pay Per View.
It was in the mesloding Barbed Wire death match that Kenny Omega retained the AEW World Championship,
but the Cleaner got pretty banged up in the process.
In the post-Pay Per View media scrum, Khan was asked about the condition of both Omega and Jon Moxley, and he
confirmed that both men are okay after such a dangerous match.
Honestly I’m glad neither came out with a serious injury because it was a really scary match and they both put
themselves at risk for a huge pay- per-view main event… It was a great spectacle and we’re all lucky that the
bomb going off at the end didn’t really hurt anybody. Khan added that Omega drew up the
plans for the bombs in storyline, so it’s his fault that the meslosion at the end wasn’t impressive, and whilst this
storyline could be interesting, the jury’s still out on whether there’ll be another mesloding barbed wire death
match anytime soon.
The ending of AEW Revolution continues to send shockwaves, albeit small, unimpactful ones, throughout
the wrestling world, and now the men involved in the match themselves have weighed in.
During Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alverez said that Kenny Omega was furious at the final meslosion after the
match, and added that both men practically killed themselves for 30 minutes with bombs and barbed wire,
just to have THAT ending. Jon Moxley isn’t much happier with how the ending went, though atlest
he's keeping the storyline going, as after the match, he called Omega a tough
the Cleaner clearly can’t make an mesloding ring. Omega and Don Callis were
reportedly the ones behind the mesloding ring, and here’s hoping AEW actually delivers if they ever
have another death match down the line
When it was announced that Paul Wight had signed with AEW, fans lost their mind and rightly so.
For 22 years, the former Big Show had been with WWE, and the assumption was he’d there for life.
Even Vince McMahon was shocked by the move, according to Wight himself, who spoke during the media call after
Revolution. Wight said that McMahon called him after the news broke of his AEW
signing, but the Chrisman wasn’t angry at the former World Champion:
Vince called me the day it was announced that I signed with AEW, wished me a lot of luck, agreed that
I’m a big asset to AEW and thanked me for all the years I worked in WWE. There’s no animosity, there’s no anger
there’s no dirt, so to speak. This just came down to, you know, contract negotiations and opportunities. Let’s
face it, over 20 years in WWE, I have done everything there is to do, in WWE. I needed a fresh start, and for me,
Vince understands that and understands me as a talent, and this was an opportunity for me to do that.
It was during AEW Revolution that another former WWE name, Christian Cage made his AEW debut, and we’ll
have to see how both men are treated in the company, and whether it was worth leaving the Vince McMahon empire.
Over to WWE now, and with WrestleMania 37 32 days away, fans will soon be able to buy tickets.
It’s been confirmed that tickets will go on sale a week-today, March 16th, and given the limited number, and the
fact that this is WWE’s first event with real-live fans in over a year, expect these tickets to sell out quickly.
Fans won’t have to wait so long for next week’s RAW, which has two title matches already confirmed for the show.
Next week, U.S. Champion Riddle will defend against Mustafa Ali, whilst the RAW Tag Champions the Hurt Business
will defend against the New Day. It’s strange that these matches are happening on the go-home edition
of RAW before Fastlane, and we’re not sure what WWE’s plan is for their first Pay Per View on Peacock.
While having TV feuds and the occasional title match is fine, the entire purpose of Fastlane seems lost,
and at this rate, it may as well b e a SmackDown exclusive event. Perhaps WWE will have title rematches
at Fastlane, much like they’re repeating the Women’s Tag Title match from Elimination Chamber, and fans
will have to wait to find out on March 21st.
Fans will see these title matches on next week’s RAW, where we’ll hopefully get an explanation to the perplexing
promo from Shane McMahon this week, who seemed to be having a nervous breakdown whilst speaking
to Braun Strowman. Given his experience in WWE, working on the mic since the late 1990s,
his promo on RAW seemed even stranger, and was more fitting of a rookie in WWE, rather than the
Prodigal son. Recently, Shane has taken it upon himself to make Strowman’s life difficult,
and has refused to explain himself to the Monster Among Men.
Last night, Shane finally answered, in a way that somehow made less sense than when he remained silent, as he
thought that Strowman is stupid. He didn’t just say it though, he hemmed and hawed and beat around the bush,
and hesitated to get to the point, to conclude a confusing promo where fans were expecting a big reveal.
Now, Fightful Select has reported on the segment, saying that McMahon’s meandering was part of the story.
The report revealed the segment went according to plan and Shane was supposed to deliver it in the manner he
did. It clarified that Shane was not suffering from ill health or anything of that kind.
The apparent goal in mind for the promo was to make Shane McMahon dislikable so the fans started to support Braun
Strowman instead. This was to set up an upcoming match between Strowman and Shane at WrestleMania 37.
Shane’s no stranger to the ring, especially at WrestleMania, and it seems he may indeed face the Monster
Among Men soon. Whether that match happens at Fastlane or WrestleMania remains
to be seen, but what we do know is that there are clear grounds for a Shane-Strowman feud.
Strowman hasn’t been the same since he lost the Universal title last August to the Fiend, and a win against
Shane McMahon could turn him face once again, if WWE gets things right in the coming weeks on the road to
WrestleMania.
Of course this RAW was all about the new WWE Champion Bobby Lashley, who had his first match as Champion,
defending against the Mix. After destroying the former WWE Chhampion last week, Lashley made
even quicker work of the A-Lister this time to retain the title, whilst Drew McIntyre watched on from backstage.
All indications are that he’ll be the next challenger, but the question is when will that match happen.
The obvious answer is WrestleMania, which could mean Lashley and/or McIntyre both skip Fastlaney
and hopefully we get some clarity soon on RAW.
Lashley’s ultimate goal is to one day face Brock Lesnar, and that match is certainly more likely now the Almighty
has something Lesnar wants. Though the Beast isn’t under contract, that hasn’t stopped Lashley from talking
about the dream-match, and revealed some details in an interview with The Wrap. He said:
"I know I spoke with somebody that was really close to him and they just said, no, it’s just not the time.”
Lashley added that the only person who he knows who is close to Brock is Paul Heyman, implying that it was
Lesnar’s advocate who told him no. It’s been rumoured that Brock Lesnar will return to WWE before WrestleMania 37,
as the company needs big names to fill out the two-night event.
When Lashley’s manager MVP posted a photoshopped image of the Almighty and the Beast in the ring, one person
who liked what they saw was The Undertaker, who used emojis to make it clear he thinks the match would be
money. A lot of people share that opinion, and we’re confident that the
long-awaited Lashley-Lesnar dream match would certainly look right on the marquee for the biggest show of the year.
And we’re ending with Keith Lee, who has seemingly fallen off the face of the earth in recent weeks
WWE pulled Lee at the last minute from the U.S. Title Triple Threat match at Elimination Chamber, despite rumours
that he was set to win the gold that ultimately went to Riddle. Though he’s been pretty silent during
his hiatus, Lee took to Twitter recently to tell fans “I miss you guys too. Just know that.”
Lee’s time on the main roster has been a mixed-bag, as he started by defeating Randy Orton and feuding
with Drew McIntyre, only to be pulled from TV and his pushes ended. There’s still no concrete news
to when he’ll return, as the man fans once considered a possible World title contender at WrestleMania will now
be lucky if he makes the card at all.