Here's your wrestling news for January 20th 2022
And your headlines for today include
Jon Moxley makes return to AEW: Security called in after things didn’t go to plan
Why does WWE refuse to release talent that they have no plans to push?
Former NXT Women’s Champion expected to be called-up soon. Shocking reason why it hasn’t happened already
“I literally lost sleep over it!” Former WWE Superstar reveals insane demand made by Vince McMahon
Bron Breakker comes clean about controversial entrance at NXT New Year’s Evil
AEW wrestler becomes father to baby girl!
How many people watched AEW programming in 2021?
Former WWE Champions and Hall of Famers make impressive list of celebrity entrepreneurs
First guest of 2022 for Stone Cold’s Broken Skull Sessions has been annouced And more!
We’re kicking off today with news from All Elite Wrestling, as Jon Moxley returned to TV last night, after months away due to in-patient rehab.
In the opening segment, Moxley promised that the coming year will be a “pilgrimage” of sorts, and that he’s ready for anyone and everyone, but one fan
spoiled this monumentous return. When a fan in the crowd appeared to say something regarding alcohol or rehab, M
Moxley didn’t hold back, telling the fan to quote “go f**k himself,” and had security remove the fan from the building.
This unplanned F bomb wasn’t edited out in time, and made it onto live TV, something we doubt TBS were happy to air.
At this time, there’s no word on what happened the response was backstage to Moxley’s profanity, but after everything Moxley has gone through in
recent months, this wasn’t the way the former World Champion deserved to be treated.
Over to RAW now, as Finn Balor also returned to TV this week, but this didn’t go as he had hoped when he came up short against Austin Theory.
It’s been reported that Balor’s new role in WWE is to put younger Superstars over, and that Vince McMahon never got the appeal of the former NXT
Champion, but don’t expect him to be the victim of the never-ending budget cuts. A source within WWE told Ringside News that
McMahon considers Balor as “filler” on the main roster, but said despite his contract not being cheap, WWE has no plans on releasing him
That same source said that Finn is making $1 million a year, but that’s not enough by today’s contract standards, and added that WWE is well
aware that “AEW would bend over backwards” to have Balor I their company. Balor may have been a big name before coming to
WWE, but it was stated that enough time has passed since then that if he did join AEW, it’d be seen as yet another WWE Superstar jumping ship
Vince McMahon may have no plans for Balor, but he also has no plans for him to compete in AEW, and for now, the inaugural Universal Champion
will remain in his spot of putting younger talent over.
WWE has no plans for Finn Balor, other than keeping him employed, but they do have plans for Raquel Gonzalez, who’s expected to be called up very soon.
On Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alverez explained the Gonzalez situation, explaining that her main-roster call-up is coming soon, but for
now she’s needed in NXT 2.0. Alverez explained that the main reason why she’s stayed with NXT 2.0 for this long is because
of the Women’s Dusty Rhodes tag team classic, which was recently announced. Given the massive cuts to their roster, which has
led WWE seeking outside talent to fill their Women’s Royal Rumble, it’s hardly surprising that the company is keeping Gonzalez in NXT 2.0 for
the Women’s tag-team tournament. After this tournament resolves, fans can expect the former NXT Women’s Champion to be called up
soon, the only question now is whether she’ll win her second Dusty Tag Team Classic before she moves to RAW or SmackDown.
In September last year, NXT relaunched as NXT 2.0, a more colourful version of the brand focussing on younger talent, now under the control of Vince McMahon
and Bruce Prichard. Replacing Triple H as head of NXT, the paint- splattered brand has undergone various dramatic
changes, and some of these changes were expected of those working off screen. Speaking on Talk is Jericho this week, former NXT
coach Scotty 2 Hotty discussed just some of the backstage changes, and how the coaches were expected to present themselves differently now
that the Chairman was in charge: “They told us ‘Vince wants the coaches looking younger, so we need you guys to start dyeing
your beards and cutting your hair. I literally lost sleep over it… It’s like, if they’re going to have us jump through hoops like monkeys just to
see if they’ll do it, so if you do that, what’s next?” After years as a coach for the company, Scotty chose to leave as he believed he couldn’t work
in this new micromanaged NXT 2.0, a place where it’s not just the on-screen talent who have their image controlled by WWE.
The biggest star of NXT 2.0 has been Bron Breakker, the reigning NXT Champion, who captured the title at New Year’s Evil.
Even before his match with Tommaso Ciampa begun, Breakker raised some eyebrows with a controversial entrance, where he kicked through
a gold X, symbolising the end of NXT, and the start of NXT 2.0.
This entrance didn’t go down well with fans, who lashed out on social media, but Breakker isn’t to blame.
When asked about the entrance by Bleacher Report, and whether it was his idea or from creative, the reigning NXT Champion said he
has no idea who came up with the idea. Debuting in September, Breakker went from newbie to champion in a matter of months
but that doesn’t mean the second-generation wrestler is kept in the loop of everything happening in NXT 2.0.
More from AEW now, and we’re sending congratulations to Kyle O’Reilly, who has become a father.
On Instagram, O’Reilly announced the birth of his daughter, Janie Elizabeth Greenwood, who’s named after his late mother.
O’Reilly finished up with WWE on the December 7th NXT 2.0, and debuted for AEW that same month during a match between Adam Cole and
Orange Cassidy, and we’d like to wish Kyle and his partner the very best wishes on this latest massive change to their family
O’Reilly is just one of several names who joined AEW with last year, as names including Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, Adam Cole, Ruby Soho,
Malakai Black all became All-Elite in 2021. Last year was a huge year for AEW, as the company was able to bring back more fans to
their shows, and the crowd watching at home continues to grow. In an interview with Vegas Film Critic,
AEW President Tony Khan discussed the company’s momentum, and said that 41 million people tuned in to watch AEW over the last 12 months.
2021 was indeed a massive year for the All-Elite promotion, and Khan is confident 2022 will be even more successful, and time will tell if this prediction
comes true.
For many aspiring wrestlers, the idea of being famous and a household name can be very enticing, and three wrestlers have recently
stood out in a very unique poll. According to data obtained by Money.co.uk, The Rock and the Bella Twins have made this year’s
Celebrity Entrepreneur 100 list, celebrating those celebs who have made it work in the world of business.
The annual list looks at over 182 million google searches and 105 million social media posts to determine which celebrity owned businesses
have thrived. The Bellas clothing and lifestyle brand ‘Birdiebee’ was ranked 81st overall, while The Rock had two
spots, with his ZOA energy drink ranking 70th, and his Teremana Tequila brand earning 19th place. With the Bellas appearing in this month’s Women’s
Rumble, and the Rock still a leading man in Hollywood, we expect these three will remain popular over the next year, as will their thriving
businesses.
And we’re ending today with Stone Cold Steve Austin, who for years has hosted guests on his Broken Skull Sessions, and now the first guest
of 2022 has been announced. In a tweet, WWE confirmed that later this month, Austin will sit down with reigning RAW Women’s
Champion Becky Lynch, which will air on Friday, January 28th, just one day before the Royal Rumble. This will mark Big Time Becks’ first appearance on
the show, though she did make an appearance on Straight Up Steve Austin, and between her pregnancy, her return at Summerslam, winning the
SmackDown Women’s title in seconds and the Charlotte Flair controversy, we’re sure that the Man will have plenty to say next week