Here's your wrestling news for June 15h 2022
And your headlines for today include
WWE’s reasoning for unifying the two World Championships is backfiring!
Surprising opponent may be the one to finally dethrone Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns scheduled to appear EVEN LESS than usual this Summer
Shocking update on Jeff Hardy arrest: Guns pulled on former WWE World Champion
Hardy suspended without pay from AEW: Tony Khan gives statement on his wrestler
Another problematic AEW star unlikely to return after recent trouble with the law
WWE filmed a TON of footage about Cody Rhodes’ injury for future use
Japan changes laws following Hana Kimura’s taking her own life due to online harassment
“There’s a culture of fear” former WWE producer explains why time with the company had to end
Fans speculate on Sasha Bank’s future after revealing surprising new look.And more!
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We’re kicking off today with WWE, who chose to unify their two World Championhips in April at WrestleMania 38, with Roman Reigns leaving Texas as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion.
When WWE announced the decision to unify the two titles, this was met with backlash from fans, and it turns out WWE’s plan isn’t working out at all.
That’s according to WrestleVotes, who reports that when WWE decided to unify the two titles, it was so that they could have Reigns appear on both Raw and SmackDown regularly.
That isn’t happening thanks to Reigns’ new lucrative schedule, and this Friday will mark his first title defence since winning the titles.
This Friday will also mark Reigns’ first match since a May 22nd Live event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, another sign of WWE’s plans for Reigns to appear regularly not working out.
We’re approaching 700 days of Reigns’ time as Champion, with no sign of it ending soon, but WWE’s entire reasoning for unifying the two world titles at WrestleMania has proven to be a bust.
It’s expected that Reigns will retain this Friday against Riddle, and if that happens, the Original Bro will be barred from challenging for as long as the Tribal Chief is champion.
This means that WWE will be down another possible challenger for Reigns, but it’s possible that the man who dethrones him may be someone he’s very familiar with.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer weighed up the most likely people who can dethrone Reigns, arguing that it needs to happen sooner rather than later:
“The thing with the championship now, with Roman, is that he’s around some, but he’s not around a lot… given the lack of depth and everything like that, the idea of Seth as champion going into next
year and Cody coming back to challenge Seth, that is a story.”
It’s worth noting that Rollins is the only person to hold a Premium Live Event win over Reigns during this title reign, albeit a DQ win at the Royal Rumble when the Tribal Chief intentionally got disqualified.
Rollins may be loathed on Raw, especially after taking out Cody Rhodes, but WWE needs someone to beat Reigns, and that honour may go to the Visionary.
While Reigns will appear on this Friday’s SmackDown, his relaxed schedule means fans have seen a lot less of the Tribal Chief as of late, and we’ll be seeing even less of him this Summer.
On his show, Meltzer revealed that this summer, Reigns is scheduled for just a single appearance on Raw, that being the July 25th episode from Madison Square Garden.
That Raw will also mark the go-home show before Summerslam, where current reports state that Reigns will face Randy Orton when the Viper is back.
Of course, plans could change between now and then, but at this time, expect to see even less of the Head of the Table than we already get.
We’ve got an update in the Jeff Hardy situation now, as the AEW star was arrested last weekend for driving under the influence.
When Hardy gave a breath sample, it revealed that the former World Champion was over three times the legal limit, but getting this sample proved to be difficult for everyone involved.
In police dash-cam footage obtained by TMZ, Hardy is seen to be un-cooperative with the officers, and at one point, all three cops present pull their guns on the AEW star.
This unsurprisingly caused Hardy to comply, and it was after giving multiple breath samples that he was arrested in Volusia County, Florida.
With this being his third DUI arrest within 10 years, Jeff could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty, and we’ll keep following his case for updates.
While Jeff has faced arrests in both WWE and TNA in the past, this is his first run-in with the law in AEW, and Tony Khan has now issued a statement on the matter.
On Twitter, the AEW President said that AEW does not condone Jeff’s alleged behaviour, and that the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion has been suspended without pay.
Khan also declared that Jeff will only be able to return one he comp letes training and maintains his sobriety, and gave a helpline for people who’s lives are being affected by substance abuse.
There’s no time window for when fans can expect Jeff back, but we know he won’t be in tonight’s triple threat tag-team ladder match as previously advertised.
Before Jeff’s arrest, he and Matt had been considered favourites to win tonight’s ladder match and capture the AEW World Tag Team titles, but that certainly won’t be happening now.
AEW may be facing a serious issue with Jeff Hardy, but he’s not the only problematic wrestler on their roster at the moment.
In January, former WWE Superstar Jake Atlas signed a deal to work for Tony Khan, but it’s unlikely that the company is going to keep him around.
Atlas has been recovering from a surgery to repair a torn ACL in recent weeks, but last month was arrested on battery charges for allegedly assaulting his partner.
According to Fightful, Jake Atlas isn’t expected to return to AEW, and it was added that in many ways, he was never officially signed to a deal.
The report explains that Atlas signed a per-appearance deal with AEW, and that this was paused after his injury, adding that AEW is unlikely to keep him when he is fully healed.
Atlas may be a talented wrestler, but this battery charge contro versy has not done him any favours, and he may find it difficult to find work even after he’s back from his torn ACL.
At WWE Hell in a Cell, Cody Rhodes fought through a torn pectoral muscle to defeat Seth Rollins in the show’s main event.
Cody’s work in the match was one of the most gutsy performances fans have seen in a long time, and it was almost immediately after that the American Nightmare had surgery.
We previously reported that WWE had been filming content related to Rhodes’ injury for a future documentary, but it turns out that they did more than just get some interviews with the former AEW TNT Champion.
On his show, Dave Meltzer said that WWE filmed Cody’s entire surgery to use footage from the operation for future projects, and said it’ll be months before they use any of this content.
We imagine having an entire WWE camera crew present would have been stressful for the surgeon operating on Cody, but it’s been said the procedure was a complete success.
WWE have said Cody will be out for nine months, but many feel that is an exaggerated number, and whenever Cody is back, there’s plenty of footage of him being sliced up for WWE to use.
Now, it’s been just over two years since Japanese wrestler Hana Kimura took her own life, after being bullied and abused online over her role on the reality show Terrace House.
After her death, there were calls on Japan to tackle these online trolls with much harsher punishments, especially after one person found guilty of cyberbullying Hana received a pathetic
punishment of a 9000 Yen fine, equivalent to $66.
Now, the Japanese government have changed the law, as CNN reports that the new legislation means someone found guilty can face a 300,000 yen fine, approximately $2,200 and up to one year in prison.
Unfortunately for retired wrestler Kyoko Kimura, nothing can bring her daughter back, but we can only hope that these new laws prevent repeat incidents such as the one that led to Hana’s death.
Now, when you sign with WWE, you sign to work with the biggest wrestling promotion on earth, but not everyone has a positive experience under Vince McMahon.
We’ve seen countless Superstars get released over the past two years, all in the name of budget cuts, and it’s not just those who appeared on TV who have felt the Chairman’s wrath.
Dan Ryckert worked as a journalist for Game Informer before signing a deal to work with WWE in 2020, and spent his two years with the company producing the New Day’s ‘Feel the Power’ podcast.
Speaking to MiniMax, Ryckert opened up about his negative experiences working for WWE, saying:
There’s a culture of fear there. Everyone is afraid to rock the boat because there is a long history of that company of certain people up top… People get fired, people get fired on whims all of the time.
I survived a bunch of waves of massive layoffs, I had several waves of bosses and bosses above bosses get laid off for two and a half years.”
Ryckert also addressed the Feel the Power podcast, saying that despite the show being massively popular, WWE decided to end it, a decision he didn’t agree with.
Ryckert may have worked with Big E, Xavier Woods and Kofi Ki ngston, three of the nicest people in WWE, but that couldn’t save the podcast, while the culture of fear within the company shows no
signs of ending anytime soon
And we’re ending today with Sasha Banks, who is currently serving out a suspension from WWE after she and Naomi walked out of Raw last month.
The Boss and the Glow left over a creative difference with the company’s plans, and while there’s no sign of either woman returning, Banks is now sporting a new look.
On Instagram, Newsom Eye, an ophthalmologist center, recently posted photos and videos showing that Banks has undergone eye surgery, but fans were more interested in her new hair-do.
Rather than the bright purple or blue fans are used to, the former Women’s Champion was sporting a more natural brunette look, fue lling speculation that it’ll be a good long time before she’s back.
Some have even argued that Banks is done with WWE, especially as her contract is up this year and WWE have reportedly been against the idea of freezing her deal.
The future is certainly unclear for Banks, who we’re sure would be a top prospect for other promotions if she does leave WWE, and by ditching her WWE hair-style, many believe that’s a possibility.