Here's your wrestling news for April 1st 2022
And your headlines for today include
Spoiler On Possible WWE Returns Spotted Ahead Of WrestleMania 38!
Triple H Had A Meeting With WWE Officials To Reverse Major WrestleMania 38 Booking Decision!
First Look At WrestleMania 38 Construction Reveals Unique Stage Design!
WWE Has MAJOR Problems Ahead Of WWE WrestleMania 38!
Seth Rollins Claims WWE WrestleMania 38 Storyline Is Very Close To The Truth!
WWE Reveals The Undertaker Statue At Superstore Axxess!
Randy Orton Takes Major Shot At WWE Wrestlers: “ They Don’t Know What The F--k They’re Doing”
Kevin Owens Reveals When He Learned About Steve Austin WrestleMania 38 Plans!
WWE’s Current Plan For Shane McMahon At WrestleMania 38 And more!
We’re kicking off today with WrestleMania, as fans are expecting to see Cody Rhodes appear this weekend, but he’s not the only big name who may be returning.
That’s according to PW Insider who report:
Asuka and Bayley have both been spotted in Dallas for WrestleMania 38 weekend.
Both women have WrestleMania moments to their names already, but it was not noted If either former Grand Slam Champion is expected to appear at the event.
Both the Role Model and the Empress could be returning very soon, but Alexa Bliss has not been spotted in Dallas at all, and her absence has been very interesting to say the least.
It has been reported that WWE were planning on Bliss getting involved with the Ronda Rousey Vs. Charlotte Flair match, which is rumoured to headline night one of WrestleMania.
That could still be the case, but Bliss is nowhere to be seen in Dallas, and it remains to be seen who will and who won’t show up.
Last week, Triple H confirmed his retirement from wrestling, as the cardiac event he suffered last September has meant he can never wrestle again.
When not competing, the Game has been a force for good with NXT, helping develop the next generation of Superstars, and one person who benefited especially
from Triple H is Damian Priest.
In NXT, Priest held the North American Championship, but the Game’s aid didn’t end when the Archer of Infamy was called up to the main roster.
Speaking with The Masked Man Podcast, Priest explained that in the run-upt to WrestleMania 37, there were plans to take him out of the match with Bad Bunny, The
Miz and John Morrison, but Triple H intervened: “I was the original partner, and then I guess it was like, ‘Well, maybe he’s not ready or what if
this is just too much pressure for him? We don’t know.’ It was talked about, well, then Rey (Mysterio) would be the guy. Hunter went to bat for me. He was like, ‘Hey, I’m sorry
that they even told you that it’s not going to be you now because I’m going to have a conversation.’ He explained why I should be trusted. I wasn’t in the meeting,
but I’m guessing that’s what he had to have done. Like, ‘ No, I trust him. Let’s trust that he’s gonna be fine. Then they were like, ‘Okay, let’s go with Priest.”
In interviews, the Cerebral Assassin has had nothing but praise for Priest, telling Peter Rosenberg on ESPN’s Cheap Heat that Priest isn’t afraid of the challenge.
In a twist of fate, Damian Priest isn’t scheduled to compete at WrestleMania 38, while it’s the Mysterios who will be involved in the celebrity match against The Miz and
Logan Paul, but Priest wouldn’t have even gotten his moment last year if not for Triple H.
Tomorrow night, WWE will host night one of WrestleMania 38, which for the third year in a row will be a two-night event.
Fans will have to wait a bit longer for the event, but we’ve already seen an early look of what the stage for the show will be.
As seen on social media, the stage has a star motif, which is fitting given that this weekend’s event will air from the Lone-Star state of Texas.
This stage is far from finished, but time will tell who stands tall when the show WWE has promoted as the most stupen- dous WrestleMania ever takes place tomorrow night.
WrestleMania 38 may indeed be the most stupendous show WWE has even put on, but not as many people will witness it in person as the company had first hoped.
Brad Shepard took to Twitter to report that as of March 30th, WWE has managed to sell around 80% of the total amount of seats for the show, with 52,700 tickets sold for
Saturday, and 51,900 sold for the Sunday show. We’re sure with WWE’s camera tricks, the event will look like it’s packed to the
rafters, but that isn’t the case for what should be WWE’s biggest two-nights of the year.
One high profile match fans will get to see is Seth Rollins match with an opponent that has been handpicked by Vince McMahon himself.
Without any title on the line, this is still expected to be one of the biggest matches in Rollins’ career, as he’s being trusted to work with Cody Rhodes in the former three-time
AEW TNT Champion’s first match back. Fans, and Rollins, will have to wait until WrestleMania before we know for certain who he’ll
face at WrestleMania, but as the Architect told the Sports Illustrated Media podcast, this angle is very close to the truth:
“You do what I’ve been doing and you try to make it work. That’s what I’ve done the last few weeks, try to work my way into WrestleMania. People say, ‘this is ridiculous
this is preposterous, you’re Seth Freakin Rollins, how can you miss WrestleMania?’ If you only knew how close to the truth this storyline was, your mind
would be blown. This is a very legitimate situation for me.”
As we said, Rollins had a date with Shane McMahon booked for WrestleMania, which was scrapped after Shane’s actions at the Royal Rumble.
For a time, it did look like the former Universal Champion was going to miss WWE’s biggest event of the year, but whoever he faces this weekend, the Architect has earn
his way onto the Mania card.
Tonight, the Undertaker will cement his legacy when he becomes a WWE Hall of Famer, and the Deadman has already received an honour only a select few legends get
to experience. At the WrestleMania 38 Axxess event, a life-sized statue of the Deadman was revealed, with
the Undertaker and his family present for the unveiling. In addition to Undertaker, his wife Michelle McCool and his family, the ceremony included
Bone Street Krew alum such as Rikishi, The Godfather, and the Godwins, as well as his kayfabe not-so-little brother Kane.
Shawn Michaels was also at the ceremony as was Triple H, in his first public appearance for WWE since announcing his retirement.
After such a legendary career, a statue is fitting for the Demon of Death Valley who’s career will truly live on as one of the greatest ever.
More from WrestleMania, as Randy Orton will compete this weekend when he and Riddle put the RAW Tag Team titles on the line against both the Street Profits and Alpha Academy.
Interestingly, Orton will be the only Superstar in the match NOT to come from NXT, but he does have some harsh words for the stars of WWE’s developmental brand.
Promoting WrestleMania on the Pat McAfee show, Orton praised Edge who’ll also be competing this weekend, before focussing on what he believes the modern
generation of talent don’t understand: “There’s an art to what we do, and a lot of guys have lost that art. Now instead of selling a
punch, because you need to sell a punch, now I’m protecting myself because I don’t want to get my f—ing jaw broken. That’s unfortunate, but the art to professional
wrestling, like when Vince was on [the Pat McAfee Show] he talked about your number one priority above all being protecting your opponent, that’s not taught necessarily in NXT.
“I know that because I’ve been in the ring with guys that came from NXT and they don’t know what the f–k they’re doing. It’s unfortunate but I think that is just kind of how
things are changing.” Orton went on to say that to prolong his career, he’s had to change his in-ring style, but that
he now believes he’s more at risk of getting injured not by his own actions, but by those 00;07;37;37who came up from NXT.
We’ll have to see whether Orton can escape WrestleMania as a champion and unscathed, as while he’s called his tag team partner Riddle his friend, it appears he doesn’t
fully trust anyone who’s come up from NXT.
Few names dominated NXT better than Kevin Owens, who will confront Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania.
It’s believed that the Austin-Owens confrontation could headline tomorrow night’s show, in what would be the first time ever that WWE’s flagship event wouldn’t close with
a match. In an interview with TVA Sports, Owens recalled the long journey to AT&T Stadium, saying that it’s usually in
November that he begins to ask about plans for WrestleMania. This year though, Owens took on a different approach
as he said he waited until January, after re-signing with the company to begin snooping around:
“So I started asking questions in January and when I spoke to Vince [McMahon], he was the one who told me that his plan was to bring Austin back for a night and that
would be with me. I was super happy! When it’s not 100% announced, things can always change. But one week before the event, I fully realize it and I can’t wait.”
It had been reported in february that WWE had “made a significant overture towards Austin” to get a match out of the Rattlesnake in Texas.
Although Austin’s confrontation with Owens is not being billed as an official match, Stone Cold has promised to “unleash one last can of whoop-ass” on Owens in front
of a capacity crowd at AT&T Stadium. Whatever their confrontation is called, the Bionic Redneck is said to be in incredible shape
ahead of WrestleMania, and will give the fans exactly what they want In his home state of Texas
And we’re ending today with Shane McMahon, who was supposed to be part of WWE’s original WrestleMania plans.
Shane was booked to face Seth Rollins until he was released from the company days after the Royal Rumble where his actions backstage left his father Vince McMahon
no choice but to let him go.
Shane has been seen in Dallas, with many expecting that he could have some involvement on the show, but that won’t be the case.
When Ringside News asked around, they were told that there’s nothing planned for Shane McMahon at Wrestle Mania, and that all creative plans were trashed after the
Royal Rumble incident. If Shane does appear on camera this weekend, it’ll be as part of the WWE Hall of Fame, an event
he never misses, but there’s nothing for him on the WrestleMania card itself. Unless something drastic changes, Shane won’t be
appearing at this weekend’s event, a far cry from the originally planned high-profile match with Seth Rollins that was once on the table.