Here's your wrestling news for June 29th 2022
We’re kicking off today with Sasha Banks and Naomi, as it’s been over a month since the pair walked out of WWE, and a lot has been said about their current status with the company.
It was reported earlier this month that Banks had been let go, something her lawyers had been working on, and now we have a better idea about when she was supposedly cut.
According to Raj Giri, Banks was released on a few weeks ago, and her departure came from an important name backstage.
Here’s what I know about Sasha Banks. She was released on June 10th and it came from Erika Schreiber, VP of Business and Legal Affairs for Talent Relations. As for why WWE has not said
anything or removed her, the rumor is that leadership is trying to smooth things over
After Banks and Naomi walked out, WWE stripped them of the Women’s Tag Team Championships, but the promised tournament has yet to happen.
WWE is hoping on Banks returning, but that looks more unlikely with each passing day, as Banks has shown no sign of wanting to return.
Banks may indeed be gone from WWE, at least on screen, but her presence is still continuing to be felt behind the cameras.
The latest report from Mike Johnson of PW Insider reveals that Banks as well as Naomi are still listed on WWE’s internal roster, and this report says that they are still with the company.
Johnson’s exact wording is that neither woman has been “officially released,” despite what Giri is reporting.
Clearly, there’s a lot of conflicting reports about the former Women’s Tag Team Champions, as it remains to be seen what exactly the company can and will do with Sasha Banks and Naomi.
In February, UFC fighter and brief WWE Superstar Cain Velasquez was arrested after shooting at a man in broad daylight.
Velasquez didn’t hit the man he was hoping to hit though, Harry Goularte, who Cain has claimed molested an underage family member of the legendary fighter.
While Cain is still facing some serious legal ramifications for his actions, Goularte himself is now also facing a lawsuit, as it is alleged that while under the watch of Patty’s Childcare, that Goularte
fostered a terrible environment, as a report obtained by TMZ Sports reveals:
The lawsuit, obtained by TMZ Sports, names Goularte’s mother and stepfather as defendants, asserting that they owned and operated Patty’s Childcare, and they “fostered, maintained, and
and allowed an environment for its attendees to fall victim to sexual abuse at the hands of Harry.”
The plaintiff, who is operating under the name C.V. Jr’s Guardian, alleges that Goularte sexually abused, molested and tormented C.V on numerous occasions.
These are some serious accusations against the Goularte family, and while Cain Velasquez is facing serious jail time for a number of charges, including attempted first-degree murder, his alleged victim
may soon be facing some severe consequences as well.
For much of their WWE career, the Authors of Pain were associated with Paul Ellering, before splitting with the legendary manager on the main roster.
The former tag champions have since been released by WWE, and founded their own promotion in May this year, and now the AOP is getting back together.
In a tweet from the official Wrestling Entertainment Series, it was confirmed that the Author of Pain, now known as the Legion of Pain, will be working with Ellering again for their first show at
Nottingham, England’s Motorpoint Arena on July 9th. The event was originally scheduled for June 4th, but was postponed for undisclosed reasons, though
many believe it was due to Queen Elizabeth’s 70th anniversary of her coronation that was happening around the same time
The show will be headlined by Adam Scherr, formerly known as Braun Strowman, and mixed martial artist Alistair Overeem to determ ine the promotion’s first-ever Worlds Champion, in what will be an
interesting debut for the brand new promotion
Back to WWE now, as Brock Lesnar recently returned to WWE, and will compete for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at Summerslam.
Lesnar’s return was a bold move for WWE to make, mere months after his loss to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 38, and we’ll be seeing plenty more of the Beast Incarnate.
On Twitter, WWE advertised Lesnar for the July 11th Raw, though no word was given as to what he’ll be doing on the show.
Lesnar won’t just be on the red brand however, as he’s also scheduled to appear on the July 22nd SmackDown in Boston, In addition to the July 29th show in Atlanta.
That latter show will be the go-home SmackDown before Summerslam, and we’ll have to see whether the Beast is the one to finally dethrone the Head of the Table.
We’ve got some concerning news from Dana Brooke now, who was missing from this week’s Raw.
On Twitter, Brooke explained her absence, saying that she had been in a car wreck, but was now doing fine, and hoped to be back soon.
The multiple-time 24/7 Champion thanked the fans for their support, saying she could not ask for better fans.
There has been a huge rash of injuries all over the pro wrestling world. AEW and WWE are both without several stars and Dana Brooke is the latest wrestler to be banged up.
Over to AEW now, as the company has so far tried to avoid releasing talent like WWE, instead waiting for contracts to expire.
Several AEW originals have departed this way, and it now looks like another is gone from the company.
Recently, Dark Order member Alan Angels fuelled rumors of his departure on Twitter, blacking out his profile and also stating that he is excited with what’s next for his pro wrestling career.
Despite once being one of the biggest, most influential stables on AEW programming, the Dark Order are seldom seen on TV these days, but with the group still together, fans aren’t getting
a sense of closure as more and more members leave the group, and AEW.
Back to WWE now, as the ongoing storyline between Kevin Owens and Ezekiel has been a highlight of Raw for months, but their planned match didn’t happen on the latest Raw.
Owens and Zeke were meant to face off with the final spot in Saturday’s Men’s Money in the Bank ladder match on the line, but Owens never made it to the show in Laredo, Texas.
Owens has tweeted that he simply didn’t want to be in Texas, a nod to his match with ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin at WrestleMania 38, but gave no actual explanation as the real reason he was missing.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that whatever is keeping Owens from TV is “nothing serious” and that he could be ready for this Friday’s SmackDown and have the qualifying match with Ezekiel.
Meltzer added that Owens is the kind of guy WWE wants in a ladder match, given the incredible performances he’s had in the past.
We probably won’t know Owens’ status until this Friday’s SmackDown, but if the Prizefighter isn’t around again, WWE will need another way to determine the last man in the Money in the Bank ladder match.
Now, AEW has seen plenty of names from WWE make appearances, who have been interested in the alternative Tony Khan is providing.
Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley and more recently, Claudio Castagnoli, all came to AEW months after WWE, but it’s not just the wrestlers who are interested.
While speaking on “MinnMax,” former WWE Senior Producer of WWE Podcasts Dan Ryckert spoke about going to AEW shows while under contract for WWE, and the lengths he went to to
avoid getting in trouble. “I went to Dynamite in person, two weeks in a row. Once in Jersey at the Prudential Center and once
at this big ‘Grand Slam’ thing at Arthur Ashe stadium, and both times, I wore a Luchador mask because it’s like, I was given tickets to the events and I didn’t know where they were going to be. And
just in case they happened to be ringside and then someone does a really crazy move and it cuts to the crowd, here is WWE employee: Dan Ryckert.”
The AEW “Dynamite” Grand Slam edition at the Arthur Ashe Stadium remains the biggest show AEW has done so far, with over 20,000+ attendees, and at least one of them was working for WWE at the time.
We mentioned already that Claudio Castagnoli joined AEW recently, having an impactful debut at last weekend’s Forbidden Door.
After the event, Claudio and Tony Khan had a very memeable photo, which shows the AEW President tightly gripping his new acquisition.
Speaking on his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T commented on the photo, saying it looked funny but he’s not going to judge Tony Khan.
Booker did say that there are people on the internet who are desparate to make Khan look a certain way, but he’s clearly not one of them.
Khan is known for his passion to wrestling, and may have been emot ional after Forbidden Door, but to be fair, if you’d just signed one of the most gifted wrestlers of a generation to a contract we’d
imagine you’d be tearing up as well.
A lot of people are thrilled to see Claudio Castagnoli in AEW, but Eddie Kingston is not one of them.
For years, Kingston has made it clear he does not like the former Cesaro, seemingly stemming from their time working on the indies.
Many have labelled Kingston bitter for holding a grudge for all these years, but that when speaking to Michigan Live about Castagnoli’s debut , Kingston said that what the fans may think doesn’t bother him:
“Of course I didn’t like it. I don’t trust the guy. And people who say whatever they want to say about me, that I’m a hothead and I don’t let things go. I just know when I see bad people, I like to call him out on it.”
When Castagnoli left WWE, Kingston said he doesn’t “have the balls” to come to AEW, and while Kingston has been vocal for years, Claudio has remained silent over this alleged beef between the two.
This seemingly one-sided beef is unlikely to end anytime soon, but Kingston will have to put his emotions aside this week, when the Blackpool Combat Club competes in Blood and Guts.
And we’re ending today with NXT 2.0, as Troy Donovan, aka Two-Dimes, who was cut from the brand this month under strange circumstances.
At the time, it was said that Donovan had been cut after an issue with WWE policy, which later transpired to be a failed medical test.
On last night’s episode, Tony D’Angelo and Stacks were part of a segment that officially wrote Donovan off TV, as the pair appeared on a bridge and threw the latter’s leather jacket in the water.
D’Angelo implied that Two Dimes had passed away, saying that the former Superstar was now ‘sleeping with the fishes.’
Donovan has admitted in a tweet that mistakes were made and lessons learned, and should he somehow return to WWE, the Two Dimes character has passed on to that great big mafia den in the sky.