Here's more wrestling news for February 25th 2022
And your headlines for Afternoon include
How did WWE perceive Cesaro before his contract expired?
SmackDown Superstar likes Anti-WWE tweets about the company misusing Cesaro.
AEW star says Cesaro “doesn’t have the balls” to join the promotion.
WWE announces massive multi-year partnership for Premium Live Events
Drew McIntyre says former WWE Champion inspired his crazy fast recovery time earlier this year
Stone Cold Steve Austin once refused to come out of retirement after learning he’d lose
“I’m always thinking about it.” Former AEW World Champion explains his biggest fear as a wrestler
Date and Location confirmed for AEW Double or Nothing 2022
Tag Team match planned for AEW Revolution now unlikely to take place And more!
We’re starting off with Cesaro, who has left WWE eleven years after he first signed with the company.
Despite being over with fans for much of his run, Cesaro never got that World title run fans wanted to see.
That doesn’t mean he didn’t get shots, as he was put in a WWE World Championship ladder match at Money in the Bank 2014, and faced Universal
Champion Roman Reigns just last year.
According to sources though, WWE never, ever considered Cesaro to be world Championship material, as they’ve told us:
“Vince McMahon was never on board with pushing him as a top guy and the feeling was that he was just a “good hand” but not someone who could be
seen as a main eventer.” It’s a real shame that Vince McMahon could never see Cesaro as a top name, as he certainly has the
physique, strength and in-ring skill to headline a show. Now, Cesaro is gone, and doesn’t have a n
non-compete clause to his name, so we could see him join another promotion perhaps as a top star, very soon.
WWE certainly hasn’t won over people with their treatment of the Swiss Cyborg, and that feeling is shared amongst the locker-room still left with
the company. According to several sources, there’s a lot of “ disappointment and dismay” over Cesaro’s
departure as he was said to be one of the most liked Superstars on the roster, and considered a great worker
It appears that one Superstar in particular is unhappy about what’s transpired as when a WWE Creative parody account said that WWE
had missed out on a can’t miss talent, Ricochet gave the tweet a like.
The One and Only didn’t stop there though, as he also liked a tweet from Brian Heffron, aka the Blue Meanie, who called out WWE for not capitalising
on Cesaro’s talent, saying he should’ve been a multi-time WWE World Champion by now.
Cesaro’s fate was possibly sealed back in 2015, where during an interview on the Broken Skull Sessions, Vince McMahon said that the Swiss
Superstar wasn’t a draw, but there’s plenty who feel differently to the chairman of the board.
Without a non-compete clause, Cesaro could join AEW any day now, but there’s one person who doesn’t want to see him backstage at Dynamite
or Rampage. Eddie Kingston and Cesaro have a long history, especially in CHIKARA, and the AEW star has never
shied away from making his very real disdain for the former WWE Superstar very clear. In May last year, Kingston called Cesaro a “scumbag
and followed by saying he’s a “Big Idiot” last December, and he’s once again fired off about the former U.S Champion.
In a tweet, Kingston said that Cesaro “doesn’t have the balls” to come to AEW, and followed up by tweeting a video of one of their matches together
in CHIKARA. Eddie Kingston may not want Cesaro anywhere near AEW, but its ultimately not his decision, and
should Tony Khan and Cesaro come to terms, Kingston will just have to find a way to get on with the uber-talented ex Superstar.
Earlier this year, WWE rebranded their Pay Per Views as ‘Premium Live Events,’ believing that the old name was out of date these days,
and now another major change has come to these shows. In a statement, WWE announced a new multi-year
partnership with the company ‘On Location’ to provide hospitality packages for their Premium Live Events.
These packages will include premier seating at shows, accommodation for the trip and give fans the chance to meet current-day Superstars and
and legends from the past.
The first package tickets as part of this partnership went on sale yesterday, with fans able to buy trips to see Money in the Bank this July.
On Location already has 150 license agreements already, and can now add WWE to their list of clients in a huge win for both parties.
Now, back at Day 1, Drew McIntyre was written off TV due to a neck injury, and at the time, it was believed he could miss WrestleMania.
Mere weeks later however, McIntyre returned in time for the Men’s Royal Rumble, eliminating Madcap Moss and Happy Corbin after a frankly
miraculous recovery time. Speaking on ‘Sports Guys Talk Wrestling’ the two- time former WWE Champion shared his secret,
saying that he’s taken the ‘John Cena’ approach to recovery times.
That approach is to work as much as possible, and McIntyre explained that he rehabbed his neck twice a day for six days a week, in addition to his regular
work outs, which Drew himself called a “crazy” approach. It may have been crazy, but it has proven to be effective, as Drew has returned to WWE in record
time, and we’ll have to see what plans the company has for the recovered former World Champion
At Wrestlemania 38, Stone Cold Steve Austin will reportedly make his in ring return to face off against Kevin Owens.
After a 19 year retirement, Austin will no-doubt get a thunderous ovation from the crowd in Dallas, but the Prizefighter was hardly WWE's first choice.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that in 2005, WWE wanted Austin to return to face Jonathan Coachman of all people, in a match the
Texas Rattlesnake was on board with. Austin was fine with the match until he learned he'd be losing to the Coach, and though this loss
would be far from clean, Austin backed out, citing a mysterious and very convenient back injury. Instead of the Rattlesnake, it was Batista who
faced Coach at that year's Taboo Tuesday, though we expect Kevin Owens will put up more of a fight at Wrestlemania 38 than the former RAW Commentator.
AEW news now as Kenny Omega hasn't been seen since his World Title loss to Adam Page last September, as the cleaner is recovering
from several injuries.
After such a heavy schedule both in AEW and out of it, Omega has more than earned some time off, but this hiatus has hardly been stress free.
Appearing on Wrestling Observer Radio, Omega was asked about his career and any post in-ring plans, and admitted he constantly worries about
a time when he'll have to stop wrestling. He said: "I’m always thinking about it, especially now because you see how fragile everything is
and how it could end... I could be injured, and it’s over, or one of the procedures could go wrong."
If the worst was to happen, AEW would still go on without Omega, as it has since last year's All Out, but it would be a monumental blow to the company.
Hopefully, Omega will have many, many years in the ring left, and we're sure that his return to AEW, reportedly at some point this year,
will be a huge moment for everyone involved
Omega isn't expected to be back in time for AEW Double or Nothing, which had its date and location confirmed this week.
It's been announced that Double or Nothing 2022 will happen on May 29th in Las Vegas, the same city that hosted the first AEW Pay Per View in 2019.
In addition to Double or Nothing, both Dynamite and Rampage will be making their Las Vegas debuts this May, in what'll be a huge week for any AEW fan.
And we’re ending with AEW Revolution 2022, which will happen next weekend, with a stacked card set to happen in Orlando, Florida.
At this time, a total nine matches have been confirmed for the show, but not every match planned is likely to take place.
On his show, Dave Meltzer said that a match between the Death Triangle and the House of Black has been planned for the show,
but that was before Ray Fenix's injury. Fenix got injury on the January 5 Dynamite when he took a chokeslam from Luchasaurus,
and Meltzer noted that he’s still expected to be out of action for at least another three weeks. AEW may have wanted the six-man tag match
at Revolution, but its just not possible at this time and whilst the match hasn’t been announced for Revolution, it was meant to happen next month.