Here's your wrestling news for January 24th 2022
And your headlines for today include
Two Former WWE Superstars REFUSE Returning At The Royal Rumble!
Change Of Plans For Money In The Bank 2022 Premium Live Event !
John Cena Breaks New Record With Peacemaker Show On HBO !
“We Were Definitely Shafted!” Former WWE Superstar Says His Tag Team Wasn’t Given The Right Opportunities !
Paige Brands Current WWE On-Screen Personality A “F***Ing Clown Shoe” In Explosive Tweet !
Conflicting Politics Led To Tense Backstage At Wrestle Kingdom 16 !
Smackdown Superstar Reveals Final Part Of His Plan That Started 13 Years Ago !
AEW Wrestler Makes History With Overseas Match ! And More !
We’re kicking off today with this Saturday’s Royal Rumble, which will be headlined by the Men’s and Women’s Rumble matches.
One massive problem for the women’s match is that there simply aren’t enough eligible main-roster talent for the 30-woman match, thanks to the past two
of mass releases. That’s why we’re seeing the likes of SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair be entered in
the match, as well as past Superstars such as Impact Knockouts World Champion Mickie James, but not everyone working for Impact is sold on
Rumble appearance. Fightful Select reports that WWE offered two spots in the Women’s Rumble Match to the
IInspiration, formerly the IIconics in WWE, but that the reigning Knockouts Tag Team Champions declined the invitiation.
There’s no confirmation why the Australian Tag Team turned down WWE’s offer, but they won’t be appearing at this Saturday’s Rumble event,
despite the opportunity for a Women’s Title match at WrestleMania 38 being on the line.
The Royal Rumble isn’t the only way a Superstar can guarantee themselves a title match, as Money in the Bank is set to happen later this year, but the
may soon be moving dates. The current day for Money in the Bank 2022 is July 2nd, but Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp notes that
WWE have been discussing moving the show to a different day, because of a UFC event set to happen that same day.
UFC will host their event from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, on July 2nd, while Money in the Bank is currently scheduled to happen at
Allegiant Stadium in the same city. Sapp adds that WWE has booked Allegiant Stadium for both July 2nd and Sunday July 3rd, so it’s
entirely possible for the show to be moved to the Sunday, to avoid competing directly with UFC. If the date is changed, it’ll be announced before
tickets go on sale later this year, and after last year’s show saw Big E win the briefcase and John Cena’s return, WWE will have their work
cut out making the 2022 event even bigger, no matter what day it happens.
Speaking of John Cena, the 16 time WWE World Champion continues to make a name for himself out of the ring, with John now donning the role
of Peacemaker for DC Comics. After the success of 2021’s The Suicide Squad, Cena now has his own series on HBO, which has
become the best reviewed entry into the DC Comics Extended Universe. On Rotten Tomatoes, the show has a 94%
approval rating, surpassing the previous record of 93% held by 2017’s Wonder Woman, and has received praise from everyone from casual
watchers to celebrities like Kevin Smith and R.L. Stine. Cena recently said that he’s nowhere near
done in WWE, and will return to the ring one day in search of that elusive record-breaking 17th World Championship reign, but for now, the WWE
icon is doing very well for himself as Peacemaker on HBO.
In 2006, WWE debuted their newest tag team Cryme Tyme, where JTG and Shad Gaspard played over the top stereotypical street thugs who got over massively
with the fans. WWE were so aware of the use of stereotypes, that they issued a statement on their website prior
to the duo’s TV debut, but despite their massive popularity with audiences, Cryme Tyme never won Tag Team Gold.
Speaking to SO CATCH By Hal this week, JTG discussed never having an official title reign, and laid the finger of blame at WWE, saying:
“While I was in the WWE, I definitely felt like we, Shad and I, were shafted.”
JTG added that although they never won the World Tag Team Titles, that they remained consistently popular with fans, and that while WWE may decide
who they want as Champions, only the fans can decide who they root for. Sadly, there’ll be no Cryme Tyme reunions in WWE,
as Shad Gaspard heroically gave his own life to save his son in 2020, but together the pair had a great run on WWE TV, without the need for tag gold.
Back to the present, as Sonya Deville has been a focus of WWE programming ever since her return to Television as an authority figure and has most
recently had her sights set on Naomi. Now though, Deville has ticked off Paige, as the two had a heated Twitter exchange when the
retired Superstar called herself the best General Manager in SmackDown history. This prompted Deville to remind Paige that she two
is an authority figure, but Paige had no time for her Absolution partner, calling Sonya “a f***ing clown shoe” and urged Naomi to beat up her
boss on SmackDown. Deville Vs. Naomi has been announced for next week’s show, but time will tell whether it actually
happens, as WWE have teased this match in the past, only to have circumstances change. As for Paige, rumours continue to circulate that
she’ll be in the Women’s Rumble match, which would be her first match in over 4 years if that does indeed happen, and if she does return,
we expect she’ll have an eye out for Sonya Deville.
We’ve got some news from New Japan next, as this month’s Wrestle Kingdom 16 was a three-night show, with the first night in Yokohama featuring both talent
from New Japan and NOAH.
Promotions working together is nothing new, but this show was tense behind the scenes, thanks to plenty of backstage politics.
Voices of Wrestling reports that NOAH accepted to lose more matches, as New Japan is a much bigger company, but on the condition that Taiji Ishimori
and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, two former stars of theirs now in New Japan, lost.
This was agreed to by New Japan’s head booker Gedo, but only after agreeing that Ishimori wasn’t pin, and that Kanemaru fell to a heavyweight.
Keiji Mutoh also caused a lot of trouble, as he refused to enter first before his tag partner Kaito Kiyomiya, and refused to sell the knee that his Hiroshi
Tanahashi had been working on. Despite all this, Wrestle Kingdom 16 proved to be a success for New Japan, but we doubt
next year’s event will see them team with NOAH after all this backstage politics.
Back to WWE, as Sheamus has had an incredible career in WWE since his main-roster debut in 2009, but there’s one last thing the former World
Heavyweight Champion wants to do. Speaking on The Bump recently, Sheamus set out his goal to be an “Ultimate Grand Slam Champion
in WWE, which is why he’s wanting to end Shinsuke Nakamura’s reign as Intercontintal Champion. In modern-day WWE, a Grand Slam is anyone
who’s held a World title, Tag Title, U.S title and Intercontinental title, with the Ultimate Grand Slam being someone who’s held those four titles
in addition to winning Money in the Bank, King of the Ring and the Royal Rumble. Sheamus did acknowledge that this accolade
has already been achieved by Edge, but argued that the Rated R Superstar won the WCW United States title during the 2001 Invasion,
which he claims doesn’t count. With Nakamura’s reign being underwhelming to say the least, it may be just a matter of time
before WWE puts the title on the consistent Sheamus, and if so, this will be a much bigger win for Sheamus than just adding another title to his trophy cabinet.
And we’re ending with Anthony Ogogo, who has made a name for himself in AEW, but is now branching out to other promotions.
This past weekend, Oogogo made his debut for PROGRESS wrestling in the UK, and the Olympic Bronze Medal boxer had his first ever wrestling
match at PROGRESS Chapter 127 in London. London is the same city that Ogogo won his Olympic Bronze Medal back in 2012,
and Chapter 127 took place exactly 100 weeks, or 700 days since PROGRESS last held a show with fans in attendance.
Competing last weekend, Ogogo made history as the first contracted AEW wrestler to compete in the UK, but with the All-Elite promotion making i
it clear they are looking to tour when the time is right, we doubt he’ll be the last.