Here's your wrestling news for may 20th 2022
And your headlines for today include
Stephanie McMahon Taking Leave Of Absence From WWE ; How Long Has She BEEN ‘LESS INVOLVED’ IN WWE? Who Will Be Taking Over Most Of Stephanie McMahon’s duties
t WWE! And More!
What Is Johnny Elite’s Current Status With AEW After Debuting On Dynamite?
Why WWE Won’t Fire Sasha Banks & Naomi ?
Why Sasha Banks Continues To Receive Zero Support From WWE Management After Walkout?
MJF Says His Back Is Hurting From Carrying AEW!
CM Punk & Swerve Strickland Call Out Racist Pro Wrestling Journalists; Fired WWE Wrestler Was Extremely Offended By CM Punk’s Pro-Choice T-Shirt On AEW Dynamite!
WOW’s Original Business Plan Was To Serve As A Tessa Blanchard Rehabilitation Project!
Released WWE Superstar Was Removed From WWE 2K22 DLC Pack!
Several AEW Contracts Set To Expire Soon! And More!
We’re kicking off today with Stephanie McMahon, an integral part of her father’s company, who has worked for years both on-screen and in an executive role.
Stephanie’s roles behind-the-scenes including being the company’s Chief Brand Officer, but much of her work has since ended.
On Twitter, McMahon confirmed that she is taking a leave of absence from the majority of her WWE responsibilities, but said that she looks forward to her return to the company.
McMahon received a ton of support from people in WWE, as she’s clearly well liked, but hasn’t been around much as of late.
That’s according to Sean Ross Sapp, who reports that Stephanie hasn’t been “as involved in WWE in recent memory” and that there had bee “rumblings” that she might step away.
Sapp clarified that this decision was taken by Stephanie herself, and that she was not pushed out of her spot with WWE.
It is unclear exactly what the reason is for this decision, but WWE will have to find out a way to operate without the Billion Dollar Princess around.
WWE’s President and Chief Revenue Officer will be taking over much of her duties with WWE, as confirmed by Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics, who reported that a select few business
partners were informed immediately after her announcement. According to PW Insider, it appears no one within WWE had any idea this announcement was coming.
A mother of three girls, Stephanie has said that she is looking forward to spending time with her family, and given the ordeal that her family has been through as of late, including her husband’s
cardiac event and retirement, the fourth-generation McMahon has certainly earned some time off.
Over to AEW now, as this week’s show saw John Morrison make his debut for the company, once again changing his name.
Now going by Johnny Elite, the former ECW World Champion was the Joker in the Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament, but came up short against Samoa Joe.
His name change has led fans to speculate on Elite’s future, but Mike Johnson of PW Insider has reported that despite the name, no contract has been signed to make the ex-Superstar All-Elite.
Speaking of Hennigan, who debuted last night as Johnny Elite, we are told he is not signed to the promotion as of this writing but the door is open for additional appearances down the line
after he wrestled Samoa Joe last night.”
He may not have won against Samoa Joe, but Johnny Elite did impress fans with his appearance last night, and we may be hearing this name more and more in the coming months.
Now, it’s been less than a week since Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of WWE Raw, and the pair sent shockw aves throughout the company by their decision to leave.
Being blasted as “unprofessional” on commentary, no punishment has been announced for the two, but don’t expect either woman to lose their job.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that if this was another time, then there’s a good chance they would be fired, which is exactly what he was told when Charlotte
Flair went off script last year during her title exchange with Becky Lynch. Ultimately though, firing Banks and Naomi would mean
giving AEW the chance to sign two huge names, who despite their actions, remain massively popular with wrestling fans, many of whom feel they’re in the right.
The pair’s walkout forced WWE to change their main event, and reportedly nixed an angle between Banks and Ronda Rousey, but its thanks to Tony Khan that the pair will remain WWE Superstars.
Sasha Banks may not be losing her job for her actions, but she has lost support in WWE, especially from those in management.
That’s according to Bryan Alverez, who reports that management is “very upset” about the situation, and continue to not have her back.
There is still almost no support for Sasha. Among management, I can almost say, I can’t say a hundred percent, but there is no support for her from management. Like,
there’s nothing that has come out or changed or anything like that. I mean, there’s actually some stuff happening where, I can tell, management is very upset about this situation.
As we’ve said, Banks won’t be fired, but losing your job isn’t the only option WWE has, as they could fine her for unprofessional conduct, or even freeze her contract.
Only WWE management know what they’ll do with Sasha Banks, who is seen as the ring-leader for what happened this week, but whatever punishment they choose, Banks has no
support among those decision-makers in the company.
While much has been said about Banks, who it is believed was the instigator of the walk out following a meeting with Vince McMahon, we now have an update on her tag team partner Naomi
who walked out in solidarity.
On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, it was reported that Naomi’s WWE contract is set to expire soon, but it is unclear when exactly that will be.
Dave Meltzer suggested that her contract ending soon could have been a factor in her decision to walk out this week, though its unclear how this will affect any negotiations about a new
contract for the 12-year WWE veteran.
Given that Naomi’s family, including her husband and brothe r-in-law, work for WWE, it’ll be interesting to see what number WWE will offer her, especially after this week.
Meltzer noted that while several new contracts are including raises, to prevent talent from choosing to leave to sign with AEW, the walk-out could end any idea of getting a raise.
On the other hand, Naomi could sit out the rest of her contract, which could make WWE freeze her deal, but both sides will be aware that this strategy wouldn’t be able to last forever.
At this moment, neither Banks or Naomi have publicly commented on the matter, but both have reportedly been pulled from Live events until the end of July, so we’ll have
see just how much longer Naomi is around.
More from AEW, as MJF has become one of the most pivotal stars of the promotion, all without having to have held a championship.
MJF hasn’t held a championship belt, at least not yet, but is fully aware of his achievements, as he tweeted on Thursday:
Back is starting to hurt from carrying this company. Couldn’t tell from my physique though. Wait wrestlers are supposed to be in shape?!?!? Who knew!
The last part of the tweet appears to be another shot at AEW and its performers, who come in all shapes and sizes.
We know that MJF’s contract with AEW will expire in 2024, and the Salt of the Earth has made no secret that he’s considering leaving for WWE, but that’s a decision that we’ll only know for
sure in over a year and a half from now.
When Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of this week’s Raw, there were a lot of hot takes about the situation, but perhaps the worst came from Billi Bhatti.
On Social media, Bhatti responded to Swerve Strickland’s support for the two, saying that its “racial with ‘these people’” and said that the Women’s Tag Team Champions are being
given preferential treatment because of their skin colour.
This led Strickland to call out Bhatti, branding him a racist, and he’s not the only one with an issue with certain wrestling journalists.
When FOX’s Ryan Satin responded to Strickland, saying how Bhatti is a “total Scumbag” who taunted his fiancé over the death of her father, CM Punk responded saying “you aint got room to talk here.”
This is likely in response to Satin’s reports about Sasha and Bayley, who were involved in an incident in 2019 at Wrestle Mania 35 which led to Banks requesting her release by WWE.
CM Punk has never shied away from making his feelings known, and this week was no exception, as while Bhatti may be a bad dude, he’s not the only one according to the AEW star.
Speaking of Punk, the former WWE Superstar appeared on this week’s AEW Dynamite, wearing a pro-choice shirt saying “abortion rights are human rights.”
This is in response to a move within the U.S. to overturn Roe V. Wade, which if successful could lead to states outright bann ing abortions under any means, something Punk feels strongly about.
On social media, controversial former WWE referee Drake Wuertz blasted Punk, saying:
“Liberal Athiest CM Punk promoting child sacrifice on a live Pro Wrestling show is disgraceful. There is no “Right” to murder a baby.”
The former WWE official turned Florida GOP candidate has called abortion one of the biggest reasons why he’s running for office, calling it a “medical freedom issue” and also runs on an
anti-vaccine anti-mask campaign, claiming that the use of face masks is part of a global child trafficking plot.
It’s worth saying that this QAnon claim has been thoroughly debunked, but Wuertz continues to believe it, even taking days off during his time in WWE to speak publicly about the idea.
If elected, Wuertz would endeavor to ban abortions completely in Florida, while CM Punk believes in a woman’s right to choose, and neither side is expected to budge in their beliefs.
Tessa Blanchard is not a popular woman in wrestling, after several accusations of racism and misconduct came out against her, and the former Impact World Champion has had
just one match over the past two years.
Blanchard signed with WOW not too long ago, but this week, it was reported that she is done with the company, and now we know more about her alleged departure.
According to Fightful Select, WOW’s original business plan was meant to serve as a rehabilitation project for Tessa because every major promotion wanted nothing to do with the
talented former Champion. Their report reads:
“Part of the plan from the jump was to serve as a Tessa Blanchard rehabilitation project, as there was no interest from WWE, AEW, IMPACT or even ROH at the time to bring her in.
David McClane had long been a fan and protective of her, going as far as to email WOW talent in January 2020 and ask them to not speak about the Blanchard
controversies. However, countless talent associated with WOW spoke to Fightful on the record in the following months about their issues with Blanchard, including some that have remained or returned.”
It was reported that Blanchard was “livid” that a planned January tryout for WOW was cancelled by CBS because of Covid, and she believed the tryout could happen over zoom or in a smaller venue.
When AJ Lee signed with WOW as a commentator and executive producer, this didn’t help things one bit, as WOW opted to switch their focus away from Blanchard and onto the former WWE
Divas Champion. After reports came out of the tensions between Blanchard and WOW, the former World
Champion fired off an interesting message about standing up for what you believe in, leading many to believe that the reports are accurate.
Blanchard was previously reported to have had “nuclear” heat due to the claims against her, and it now seems that fans can add WOW to the growing list of promotions who want nothing
to do with her.
Earlier this year, Nash Carter was cut from WWE, after an image of him impersonating Adolf Hitler was shared online.
Before his release, WWE had plans for the MSK member, who was set to be in the upcoming Stand Back DLC for WWE 2K22, but has since been removed.
Now, the DLC pack will include The Hurricane, Stacey Keibler, A-Kid and Carter’s old tag partner Wes Lee, but Nash will be nowhere to be seen when the DLC launches next month.
And we’re ending today with AEW, who have lost Cody Rhodes and Stu Grayson over the past couple of months, but may more stars may be ready to go.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that plenty of names signed three-year deals just before their first Las Vegas event in May 2019, meaning that their contracts will be expiring
very soon. Meltzer didn’t name exactly who was part of the May 2019 group, but Tony Khan will have
some difficult decisions to make over who should stay in AEW, and who will ultimately be shown the door.