Here's your wrestling news for June 28th 2022
And your headlines for today include
Why WWE Were FORCED TO RESCHEDULE RAW SEGMENT
EX FEMALE WWE SUPERSTAR ADDS FUEL TO VINCE MCMAHON’S MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS
Backstage Update On How The Locker Room Reportedly Felt About John Cena's WWE Return
Reported Backstage Details Behind AEW Stars Appearing On WWE RAW Video To Congratulate John Cena
Major Heel Turn Teased On WWE Raw
We Star Plans To Donate CAMEO EARNINGS TO PRO- CHOICE ORGANIZATION
TONY KHAN FURIOUS AT ‘SHAMEFUL’ AEW LOCKER ROOM LEAKS
Jon Moxley Cuts Passionate Promo After AEW Forbidden Door Goes Off The Air
Joey Ryan Working As A Handler On Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise Ride! And more!
We’re kicking off today with Monday Night Raw, as John Cena made his long awaited return to WWE, 20 years to the day that he debuted on the main roster.
Cena’s return was announced week’s in advance, marking his first time on WWE TV since his Summerslam 2021 loss to Roman Reigns, and those within WWE are pleased to see him.
WrestleVotes reports that John’s return has not just been a business boost, with new merchandise being made for his comeback, but it has been a boost for the locker room, many of whom consider
John “the ultimate leader.”
WWE has a more “positive presence” felt throughout the company whenever he’s around, something that is becoming increasingly rare in recent years.
As for who Cena will wrestle next, that’s up to some debate, as while it’s been reported that Theory would be his Summerslam opponent, Cena teased facing Seth Rollins, sharing an image of the
former Universal Champion on his Instagram.
Of course, Cena could be just trolling people, or Rollins may indeed be his next opponent, but as long as John is around, the entire WWE locker room feels better.
After 20 years with WWE, it should come as no surprise that several wrestlers wanted to pay their respects to the 16-time WWE World Champion, including some interesting names.
Current All Elite Wrestling stars Bryan Danielson and Paul Wight, known as Daniel Bryan and The Big Show during their time in WWE, were featured in a video package honoring Big Match John, and
both congratulated Cena on his achievement
Chris Jericho, AEW’s very first World Champion was also on hand to congratulate Cena, and Fightful Select reports that this WWE-AEW crossover was pretty simple:
We're told that the situation was very straightforward in making it happen. The idea was pitched, and then AEW founder Tony Khan was contacted in order to see if he'd be okay with it. Given the
circumstances surrounding the videos, he was said to be okay with the videos and provided approval. A WWE source told us that they were able to land virtually everyone they hoped to for the 'congrats'
videos. These instances have been few and far between since AEW launched in 2019. It was certainly interesting that WWE and AEW allowed multiple
former World Champions to appear on Raw in this capacity, and it goes to show just how much an influence John Cena has had on the entire wrestling world.
More on Cena’s comeback as minus the actual promo itself, it felt like everything John Cena did was gold. There wasn't anything wrong with the promo, but it did nothing to further any storylines.
While WWE didn't advertise anything like that, he eventually met the United States Champion Theory. However, another segment later on the show saw him interact with his old SummerSlam
opponent Seth Rollins, who reminded Cena that he broke his nose seven years ago.
It seemed like a rematch between the two was teased, which was odd considering that WWE likely has no intention of going through with another Cena vs. Rollins rivalry
Last night’s show saw the continuation on the road to Money in the Bank, but like all WWE events, the card was subject to change.
Kevin Owens and Ezekiel were meant to square off in a Money in the Bank qualifying match, as part of their ongoing, highly popular storyline.
However, that match ever took place, and WWE gave no reason for why the two didn’t face off for the final spot in the men’s Ladder match.
WWE also did not give a reason as to how this final spot will be decided, and who will get the chance to advance, but last night’s show did not go as originally planned.
AJ Styles has had a complete WWE career, with only a few accol ades missing from it. In terms of championships, he has won it all and even has a WrestleMania main event under his belt.
However, there has been an odd trend in his career. He has thrived on SmackDown and somewhat floundered on RAW. While his current run on the red brand isn't as bad as many other stars
have had, this might be the weakest run of Styles' career.
He is being protected but not pushed very much. It's unfortunate, but his current feud with The Miz doesn't seem to be doing the job.
More news from RAW as WWE once again did a bad job with regards to Women's title feud
We don't mean to be too critical of this RAW Women's Champio nship feud because it has had just two episodes to build up to after Rhea Ripley was declared medically uncleared to compete.
This week, Bianca Belair and Carmella had a stand-off in the ring that was average at best. Perhaps putting the latter in a match would have been better, but the fact that the obvious outcome
gives fans little reason to worry about the feud.
At last weekend’s Forbidden Door event, Jon Moxley captured the Interim AEW World Championship, his second world title as part of the promotion.
Moxley has had several high-profile wins since joining AEW three years ago, but his matches will not be to everybody’s taste.
Speaking on The Sessions, Moxley spoke about his current style of matches, and told his wife that Vince McMahon would “flip his lid” if he saw his bouts in AEW.
Moxley didn’t hold back, saying that everything taught in WWE to young wrestlers hoping to become Superstars is “demonstrably wrong,” and that the success of AEW has proven how wrong
WWE’s methods are.
This is hardly the first time Moxley has been critical of WWE, as his recent autobiography MOX details feeling unhappy whilst working for the company in the latter years of his career.
Moxley’s decision to leave WWE certainly paid off for him, and it remains to be seen what comes next for the interim AEW World Champion.
Earlier this month, WWE was levelled with allegations that Vince McMahon had an extra marital affair, and arranged a $3 million payout to the employee as hush money.
This has led to an investigation into McMahon and six other investigations into WWE and their business practices and there’s now been an update.
In 1992, Rita Chatterton the first female referee in WWE history, came forward to accuse McMahon of sexual assault from 1986, however the statute of limitations meant that no charges could be filed.
A new article from the New York Intelligencer features comments from Leonard Inzitari, who is corroborating Chatterton’s allegations.
Inzitari, who used to work as Mario Mancini for WWE from 1984-1991 said that Chatterton was telling the truth, saying:
“I remember it like it was yesterday, she was a wreck. She was shaking. She was crying.”
“He [McMahon] has dug himself such a deep hole that I’m just tired of it. I can’t do it anymore. “I’ll tell you why I’m hopping on the bandwagon now. There’s worse stuff than that.”
The article also contains comments from Chatterton herself, and her reaction to the ongoing investigation into McMahon:
“He’s not gonna pay for what he did to me,” she says. But she’s glad the hush-money allegations are coming to light. “Now this girl’s come forward,” Chatterton says of the paralegal whose friend sent
the initial emails to the WWE board, “and I’m sure others will come forward. Because we’re not the only two. There’s not a doubt in my mind about that. Chatterton pauses and thinks for a second. She chuckles a little.”
WWE Staff are reportedly keeping their heads down and waiting to see just how bad things get for McMahon and the company, and with several law firms looking over the company’s practices
towards employees, these comments may have major ramifications for the ex-CEO.
This month, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade, the landmark legislation that ensured a woman’s right to choose across all states.
Several states have since made moves to ban abortions entirely, leading to a debate over the Supreme Court’s ruling, as well as protests across the country.
Liv Morgan is now making her own stance clear on the matter, as or the month of July, 100% of her Cameo earnings will go to the National Network of Abortion Funds.
Morgan is hardly alone in making her position clear, as Paige, Kayla Braxton and Amanda Huber have all shared stories of how pro-choice has impacted their lives, while Glenn ‘Kane’ Jacobs and Jaxson
Ryker have taken an opposing pro-life view.
Whatever your stance is, this debate doesn’t appearing to be easing up anytime soon, as Liv Morgan is hoping to raise awareness in her own way.
It’s safe to say that Tony Khan is passionate about his promotions AEW and Ring of Honor, though some of his actions online have stuck out online.
Khan has faced criticism for some of his responses to criticism, but now there’s something else that has drawn the ire of the wrestling promoter.
While speaking during the post-Forbidden Door media scrum Khan spoke about plans getting leaked, something that always infuriates him:
“There were like, a hundred people sitting in the stands at Daily’s Place when Amanda [Huber] told us Brodie was sick, I know there’s a lot of new people here since then, but there were a lot of people
here, and a lot of them are the same people even though there’s a lot of new faces, and no one said a word. So when it’s something life or death, I trust the people backstage, but I’ve learned around like
a lot of stuff, it just leaks. It’s like, really shameful. Like people shouldn’t be doing it. And that’s one of those ones where it screwed up what would have been maybe a pop… the fact that it even came up was dumb.”
Khan also discussed plans for Orange Cassidy to get a new theme song, ‘Jane’ by Jefferson Starship, and isn’t happy about that being leaked as well.
“As I understand it, I have 97.5% of the rights to the song in this case, it might as well be 0. I’m close, I’ve been told by the 2.5% holder that they’re going to get back to us and it seems like its going
probably happen but the fact that I’m even having to explain this is ridiculous and it’s because someone in the back shouldn’t have said what they said.”
Khan may hate that certain plans get leaked, but this has always been a part of wrestling, but the AEW President hopes to get these leaks and spoilers under control.
Several of Khan’s plans had to change on the road to Forbidden Door, which culminated with Jon Moxley capturing the interim AEW World Championship.
It was an emotional moment for Moxley, who hadn’t held gold in AEW in over two years, and he had things to say after the show.
In a post-show promo, Moxley put over Claudio Castagnoli, who had debuted for AEW earlier that night.
The Interim AEW World Champion also discussed the industry of professional wrestling, calling it “the best sport, the best f*cking thing in the world.”
Moxley’s next match will be this Wednesday, when he and the Black pool Combat Club face the Jericho Apprection Society in Blood and Guts, where he’ll no doubt bring his own level of violence to
AEW’s premiere gory match.
When the Speaking Out movement began, it led to a widespread discussion about the treatment of women in wrestling, and how many people were taken advantage of.
One star who was named in the movement was Joey Ryan, who faced several accusations of misconduct and assault by female wrestlers.
Despite denying the accusations, Ryan did issue an apology for invading the personal space of others, and began taking Sex Addiction classes, and he’s since resurfaced, though not in the ring.
A photo, posted by Twitter user @Mr_GQ_Cantu has emerged online, which shows Ryan working as a handler on Disney’s Jungle Cruise ride.
The ride is a simulated riverboat cruise which was recently turned into a movie starring The Rock, but Ryan’s role with the Jungle Cruise is far, far different to his fellow wrestler.
Becky Lynch was victorious in the news from RAW main event, which featured the likes of Nikki A.S.H., Doudrop, Shayna Baszler, Xia Li, and Tamina. It was an elimination bout that felt like the best
way to decide the final contestant of the Women's MITB ladder match. Lynch winning was the correct decision, and it helped that
the match was great. Despite having several accolades, she is yet to win the coveted briefcase. It will be interesting to see whether Big Time Becks emerges as Ms. Money in the Bank 2022.
And we’re ending today with more Raw news, as a major heel turned was teased during last night’s broadcast.
During the show, The Judgment Day’s Damian Priest and Finn Balor confronted The Mysterios in the backstage area with Balor listing out Rey Mysterio’s long list of accomplishments in the WWE.
Finn said that while Rey is loved and respected by the WWE fans, the father isn’t teaching how to be loved and respected to his son, and Priest made the case for Dominik to join the Judgment Day.
Closing the segment, Balor blamed Dominik’s seemingly underwhelming career on bad parenting, calling Rey a bad father.
A match for next week’s Raw was also made, which will take place In the Mysterios’ hometown of San Diego, California.
Dominik’s last win in WWE came a month ag on the May 29th Raw, with his last singles win being an upset win over The Miz in February.
This isn’t the first time WWE have teased splitting the Mysterios, but it could be the last, as their homecoming next week may turn to tragedy should the Judgment Day get their way.