Here's your wrestling news for February 18th 2022
And your headlines for today include
Cody Rhodes And Tony Khan Make A Secret Pact Following Cody And Brandi’s Departure From AEW!
How Were Things Behind The Scenes During This Week’s AEW Dynamite?
Tony Khan In Tears In Post-Dynamite Segment After “A Hell Of A Week”!
WWE Legend Confirms His Contract With AEW Is Over Soon!
Cody Rhodes Responds To Fans Refusing To Watch AEW Anymore!
WWE Hall Of Famer Told He Can Never Wrestle Again After Latest Surgery!
Bryan Danielson Reacts To Sign About Him During Latest Dynamite!
New WWE Series Confirmed! Full Season Will Air Later This Month! And More !
We’re kicking off today with AEW, as Cody Rhodes and Brandi Rhodes shocked the wrestling world earlier this week when they announced their
departures from the company in statements thanking AEW’s roster and Tony Khan. It’s reported that the relationship between Khan and
the Rhodes’ is far-less civil, with Cody reportedly leaving over a pay dispute and after losing booking power, but you certainly won’t hear
that from either party. On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that both parties have agreed to keep
quiet about the details behind what’s happened and said that the statements given already will be the only things that’ll be said publicly.
WWE is reportedly already in contact with Cody about a return, and its believed he’ll receive a huge push from Vince McMahon when he does come
back to the promotion he left in 2016. When Cody formed AEW in 2019, it was believed he’d be with the company for good, and while
we’ll never know exactly what happened behind closed doors, it may be a matter of time before the former Intercontinental Champion is back in WWE.
Even without Cody and Brandi Rhodes, the show must go on, as this week’s edition of Dynamite was the first AEW without the power-couple.
It would hardly be surprising if Dynamite was a bit more chaotic than usual following the departure of two of the most significant names behind the scenes
but that apparently wasn’t the case. Fightful Select reports that things were “business as usual” behind the scenes this week, with one
source within AEW saying that the show served as a reminder that this is pro- wrestling and life goes on.
Another source said that they don’t expect AEW to ignore or erase Cody Rhodes from AEW’s history, a fate that has ha ppened to several AEW wrestlers
who once worked for WWE.
Cody may be missed by those in AEW, but this week showed that the show will be fine without him or Brandi after the shocking actions of this week.
AEW Dynamite may have been business as usual behind the scenes, but that doesn’t mean it’s not been a tough week, especially for Tony Khan.
As seen in a video posted by a fan, Khan came out after Dynamite went off the air, saying that he’s had a “hell of a week,” and was in need of a “big hug.”
The Best Friends were happy to oblige, and Khan was almost in tears during this post- show segment.
It’s never good for a company to lose two of its biggest names, and that’s something Khan is having to deal with right now, and though the show
will go on, it has indeed been a hell of a week for the AEW President.
More from AEW now, as this week’s show was the first without the Rhodes’ and it appears that’s who the fans really wanted to see.
This week, Dynamite suffered it’s lowest viewership since December, bringing an average 869,000 to TBS, with many speculating that the Rhodes’ leaving is a
factor in this drop. When one fan tweeted that the situation has left them “pretty emotional,” and that they’re taking a
hiatus from watching now that Cody and Brandi are gone, this garnered a response from Cody, who encouraged them to keep watching and that
wrestling is thriving. We can’t help but wonder if this fan will switch to WWE should Cody return to the company as
rumoured, but despite the reports of a falling out with Tony Khan, Cody doesn’t want AEW’s fanbase to give up on the product.
The Rhodes’ leaving may be the first of many in 2022, as several contracts are up this year, including the deal of Jim Ross.
The WWE Hall of Famer signed a three-year contract with AEW in 2019, meaning his contract expires this year, but JR isn’t planning on going anywhere.
Speaking with JMart and Ramon, Ross acknowledged that his deal is ending, and that it’ll end soon, but is pleased with what he’s done so far. He said:
“[AEW is] in a really cool spot, especially for a guy like me. My contract is up soon. I’m not looking to go anywhere, but nonetheless, I’m 70. I have to be
realistic at some point in my crazy ass life. Despite being arguably the greatest commentator ever, JR’s work in AEW has faced criticism for a
series of botches, including referring to their flagship as ‘WWE Dynamite’ and calling Kenny Omega the WWE Champion.
There will be a time when JR has to leave the announcer’s table for good, but Ross has no plans on that happening anytime soon,
even with his AEW contract ending this year.
We’ve got news from D-Von Dudley now, who was one-half of one of the greatest tag-teams of all time, but his in-ring career is officially over.
After decades of hitting opponents with the 3-D, it’s no surprise that D-Von has had some back problems and on Facebook, posted that he has had
spinal fusion surgery to repair his L4, L5 and L6 veterbrae. D-Von said that the surgery was a success and
he’s already feeling better after having these veterbrae fused together, in addition to bolts, screws and plates being placed in his back.
With that said, doctors have D-Von he can never wrestle again, or could risk doing even worse, permanent damage to his back if he gets back
in the ring. It’s been over five years since D-Von’s last match and he’s worked for several years now as a WWE
producer, but if the company ever needs a name to fill a spot in the Men’s Royal Rumble, D-Von Dudley is off the table.
On this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, Bryan Danielson faced and defeated Lee Moriarty, knocking his opponent out with the Triangle choke.
It was an impressive match to say the least, and saw Danielson be confronted by Jon Moxley, but a sign in the crowd has caught the attention of fans.
When the AEW on TV Twitter retweeted a gif of the Moxley-Danielson segment, the submission specialist pointed out a sign reading ‘Bryan
Danielson cries at the end of Old Yeller.’ Responding, Danielson refuted the idea that he cries at the end of the movie, but said he did cry
during the 2020 BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
This caught the attention of Moriarty, who said that that clean-up sucked, but not before demanding a rematch with the former WWE World Champion.
We won’t spoil how Old Yeller ends, but we’ll admit that there’s no shame in crying at the end of that movie, and time will tell if Moriarty gets his rematch
with the American Dragon.
And we’re ending today with Corey Graves and Carmella, who are a real-life couple, and will now be the stars of their own reality series on YouTube.
After a lot of teasing of a big announcement for the two, the pair announced the new show on their Bare with Us Podcast, with Graves saying
that its been in the works since the start of the podcast since June 2020.
The show will launch on February 28th, and its believed that the entire series will drop at once for those who want to binge Corey and Carmella.
With both Total Divas and Total Bellas a thing of the past, this will be a different version of reality TV, as it won’t happen on TV, but fans of the couple
will soon get to see plenty more of their lives both in and out of the company.