Here's your wrestling for may 11th 2022
And your headlines for today include
Roman Reigns’ New WWE Deal Will Only See One Notable Change!
Conflicting Reports About Roman Reigns’ WWE Hiatus!
WWE Keeping Staff In The Dark Regarding Money In The Bank Stipulation Change!
WWE Might Have To Split World Titles Under New Money In The Bank Stipulation!
Is WWE Already Dropping The Ball With The Lacey Evans Storyline?
Tammy Lynn Sytch Threatens To Block Her Haters On Social Media!
AEW Dragged For Having The Worst Segment In Company History
WWE Planned To Add Another Member To Edge’s ‘Judgement Day’ Faction
Dexter Lumis’ Disappearance Explained On NXT 2.0 After His WWE Release
Corey Graves Interested In Leaving WWE Commentary For Backstage Role
Eric Bischoff Makes Fun Of Cm Punk’s Failed UFC Career ; Cm Punk Absolutely Buries Eric Bischoff With Brutal Tweet
Brock Lesnar Guy Reacts To WWE Recycling Footage Of Him During Wrestlemania Backlash
John Cena Reveals When He Found Out WWE Would Never Turn Him Heel! And More!
We’re kicking off today with Roman Reigns, who has signed a new WWE contract, one that will mean he works fewer dates.
Not long after the news of his new contract came out, it was reported that Reigns hadn’t been booked for any TV or live events this Summer, with his latest TV date being the
June 24th SmackDown. Now, we have an update on the situation, as when Andrew Zarian spoke to a source with
WWE, they said that Reigns will still be appearing, and that there’s only one big change as part of his new contract:
Spoke to someone over at WWE regarding Roman & his schedule moving forward. It’s not expected for Roman to take extended time off. He will be on PLEs & TV. The only change
will be with smaller market house show, which is why he showed his gratitude to the fans in Trenton NJ. At a Live event in Trenton, New Jersey, Reigns said he’s
not sure he’ll ever come back to the city, but it now seems that this meant he may never do a house show in the city, but is still on board for Premium Live Events and TV Tapings.
At that same show, Reigns spoke about entering a “new phase” of his life and career, and despite reports, it seems he’ll still be around on TV for the time being.
Reigns is still seemingly expected to appear, despite not being currently booked for any tv tapings past June 24th, and that’s certainly the case according to Fightful.
While Reigns may be vanishing from WWE TV this June, that’s not what Sean Ross Sapp reports, as he notes: “WWE sources had claimed to us that Roman Reigns was
factored into their creative plans for the foreseeable future.” I don’t know how that bodes for reports of him having time off this summer and we’ve not got that word from WWE.”
While Reigns has signed a new contract to work fewer dates, it makes sense that WWE wants him to appear this Summer, especially in the run up to their second biggest Premium Live
of the year, Summerslam. The only thing we know for certain is that fans will be seeing a lot less of Roman Reigns on
TV, but whether he takes the entire Summer off or not, only the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion knows that for sure
During WrestleMania Backlash, Cody Rhodes appeared during a commercial for Money in the Bank, and had some choice words about the upcoming Premium Live Event.
Speaking about the two titular Ladder matches, Rhodes said that the winners will earn the chance to main event WrestleMania, despite this typically being reserved for the Royal Rumble winners.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed the ad, saying he thought it was a mistake at first, but given that it was reaired on Raw, this is clearly what WWE wants to be broadcast.
Meltzer said he asked around with his sources in WWE, and that nobody knows what’s going on, and that those backstage are being kept in the dark about the situation.
When he asked WWE for an official statement, they responded saying that there is no statement, with fans having to wait for more clarification on the situation.
It appears that the unpredictability of the Money in the Bank cash in is gone, in favour of a guaranteed WrestleMania title match, but we’ll only know for sure as we approach the
July 2nd event.
The biggest problem with this rule change is that it will cause conflict with the Royal Rumble, as we’ll soon have two male Superstars who have a viable claim to a world title match at
WrestleMania. On his show, Meltzer discussed this issue, and said that this m ay be a sign that WWE are already preparing to introduce a
second World Championship. Meltzer’s belief is that WWE could have the Money in the Bank match and the Royal Rumble
match determine, with the two challengers facing two different World Champions at WrestleMania.
As for the women’s Ladder match and Rumble match, that would be relatively simple, given that there are already two Women’s Championships on the main roster to challenge for.
It was only at WrestleMania 38 that WWE unified the WWE and Universal Championships, but now, just over two months later, fans can expect a second world title to be introduced very soon.
In March, Tammy Sytch was involved in a three-vehicle collision that took the life of 75-year-old Julian Lasseter. Last week, Sytch was arrested and charged with nine felonies
including DUI manslaughter, and a toxicology report has revealed that she was over three times the legal blood alcohol limit when her car collided with Lasseters.
These are the facts of the case as of this time, but Sytch isn’t pleased to hear them, and has addressed her critics on social media.
In a lengthy rant on Facebook, Sytch didn’t hold back against those who are horrified by the situation, saying:
“If ANYONE says ANYTHING negative about me, you will be blocked and NEVER unblocked. You don’t know the real story so don’t act like you’re some f***ing journalist when all y
do is type from your moms basement. Done.”
To be clear, our journalists don’t write from their mom’s basement, but instead have their own room just for writing.
All jokes aside, this is an incredibly tragic situation, and Sytch could face some serious jail time if found guilty, and we’ll keep following this case for further updates.
Back to the ring now, as Lacey Evans recently returned to WWE TV, after over a year away due to her pregnancy.
Evans has returned on SmackDown as a babyface, who is referencing her difficult, but inspiring life, but it appears that this face turn has been short lived.
According to PW Insider, WWE has decided not only to make Evans a heel again, but to move her to Raw, but there is no word yet on when she will make her return to the red brand.
This report comes just days after Evans made her fully-fledged return in front of an audience and seemed to be over with fans, but will now have to ditch this new attitude and revert back to
being a bad guy. PW Insider didn’t specify if Evans will be going back to her role as the Sassy Southern Belle,
or if a new character has been made for her, but whatever the case, expect the former U.S Marine and wrestling mother to ditch her current face persona very soon.
If you’ve been watching AEW Dynamite for a long, long time, you’ll know of Julia Hart’s slow-burning turn, which fans are still waiting to happen.
It was last year that Malakai Black spit mist in Hart’s eye, and she has slowly been embracing her darker side, but fans have grown tired for waiting for the turn to happen.
On last week’s Dynamite, Hart and Black were part of a segment involving the Varsity Blondes and the House of Black, which has faced some serious criticism.
On the latest episode of his podcast, Jim Cornette was especially harsh on the segment, saying:
“This was the worst segment I have ever seen on wrestling television because there was no redeeming value to this. This material was so horrible that nobody cared.
Anybody who came up with this story should be sent away to prison. There’s no punishment too heinous. Nobody should have been forced to watch this.
You send the kid [Brian Pillman Jr] to tell this story, which is hokey bullsh*t. He tried so hard that he ended up screaming and squeaking, trying to put his soul into it for the rotten creative.”
Now, over five months after the storyline with Hart got started, there’s still no sign of it coming to an end anytime soon, and while WWE has been praised for its slow burn storylines
in the past, this angle is taking far too long.
Back to WWE, as Rhea Ripley joined Judgement Day at WrestleMania Backlash, aiding Edge in his match with AJ Styles.
Ripley joining the group had been rumoured, but it seems like Judgement Day won’t be a trio for much longer.
That’s according to PW Insider, who report that there’s been talks of adding a fourth member to the group, but didn’t specify who.
Around the same time it was rumoured that Rhea Ripley would be joining, it was also rumoured that Ciampa would be a member, but that hasn’t been confirmed by WWE.
There’s been plenty of buzz around Judgement Day, with Mick Foley even saying it could be one of the best factions of the ages, and time will tell who stands with the Rated-R Superstar next.
Earlier this month, Dexter Lumis was one of the 10 Superstars cut from WWE, despite being one of the most prominent stars on NXT 2.0.
Lumis’ wedding to Indi Hartwell had headlined the very first show of the revamped brand, and we now know more about how he’s been written off TV.
During a segment last night, Toxic Attraction mocked Hartwell, with Mandy Rose saying she has no idea how Indi is feeling, as no man would ever leave her.
While it was teased last week that Lumis had left her, this week’s angle confirms it, though it wasn’t confirmed if her left Hartwell for Persia Pirotta, who was also recently cut.
Whatever comes next for Indi Hartwell, it won’t involve her on-screen ex-husband, and after months of WWE building to their wedding and their honeymoon after that, it seems all of the
interest from fans was a waste of time.
Now, when a series of concussions ended Corey Graves’ wrestling career, he found a new role as a WWE commentator, and has called the action for Raw, SmackDown and NXT
over the years. Earlier this year, TMZ reported that Graves had been medically cleared, and could wrestle
again if he and WWE decide on it, but the former NXT Tag Team Champion has a much different role in mind.
In an interview with WrestleTalk this week, Graves confirmed that he is medically ready, but said he’s “not in ring shape by any means,” but said his career is at a plateau right now.
Graves added that he wouldn’t be opposed to taking on a backstage role, possibly in creative, or even marketing, just to give him a new perspective on the wrestling industry,
other than being an on-screen performer.
He added that maybe a role as a producer could be in the cards, as he’d love to discuss finishes and bumps with future talent if he never wrestles again.
Graves may be cleared to return, but he’s not ready to make the jump back into the ring at this time, though thankfully for him, there’s plenty of other roles behind the scenes that
could do with his years of expertise.
Now CM Punk is one of AEW’s biggest stars, and made a name for himself in wrestling, but in the mid 2010s, tried his hand at UFC.
Punk would ultimately lose both fights, though one bout has since had its decision overturned due to his opponent Mike Jackson testing positive for Marijuana on the day of the fight.
Regardless, one loss and one technical no contest isn’t the result Punk wanted in the UFC, and on Twitter Eric Bischoff mocked Punk’s run in the Octagon,
Responding to a screegrab of Punk post-fight in 2016.
He convinced himself since he could win scripted fights, he could win a real one. Punk certainly wasn’t on board with being mocked by Bischoff,
and didn’t take kindly to a clip of Easy E saying that AEW needs to stop catering to its core audience, and needs better storytelling to grow.
In that clip, Bischoff is responding to Punk’s recent claim that casual fans don’t exist, and said:
“How do you define the casual fan? I don’t know if there’s one definition and everybody will have their own definition,” Bischoff said. “I’ve always considered casual fans within the
context of research as people who drop in once or twice a month and always have. They still like it, if there’s nothing going on if they have some time and they don’t have
anything else they’re really interested in doing at that moment. All due respect to CM Punk, CM Punk never spent five minutes in the television business. He
knows a lot about what’s going on in the wrestling ring, he knows a lot about building a character, more than I ever will in terms of executing it. But to make the casual statement that
I think the lapsed fan is gone and I don’t think they’re ever going to come back,’ what the f*ck are you doing in the television business then dude? It makes no sense to me, I don’t believe it’s true.”
In response, Punk took to social media to bash Bischoff’s claims, saying:
“Wrestling Twitter needs to stop amplifying all the old head bad faith bad take carny dips*****. They had their moment in the sun. Let them die in the dark with their ego podcasts. Quote me.”
Their war of words didn’t stop there, as Bischoff once again fired back, quoting Punk’s comments about how despite AEW is bigger than WCW, adding “How’s that working out?”
It’s clear that Bischoff and Punk don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things, including AEW and the existence of casual fans, so don’t expect the two to share the screen anytime soon.
Yesterday, we reported on WWE, who are reusing old footage and trying to pass it off as modern day crowds.
During a recent promo package between Madcap Moss and Happy Corbin a crowd shot from a 2012 Raw was used, featuring the WWE Superfan known as Brock Lesnar guy.
Named for his reaction to Lesnar’s return to WWE, BLG has now responded to being reused on WWE TV, and suggested via tweet that his name be changed to ‘Recycled Lesnar Guy.’
WWE has seen a sharp downturn in attendance over the past 10 years, which may explain why they’re using old footage, but this production truck isn’t fooling anyone
And we’re ending today with John Cena, who was a babyface throughout his entire main event run, despite fans often calling for him to turn heel.
Speaking on In the Envelope, the Actors podcast, Cena discussed his in-ring career, and being told he would never be turned heel in 2009:
WWE and sports entertainment walk that gray line. Everyone knows it’s entertainment, everyone. But everyone wants to believe in what’s going on. I was made aware that I would
not undergo a tectonic shift in John Cena, the character, probably around 2009. So that allowed me to get that conve rsation off the board, and I had to, or I chose to dive into nuance.”
While WWE did tease a Cena heel turn, they never pulled the trigger, and a darker main event run for Big Match John remains one of wrestling’s biggest what ifs.