Here's more wrestling News for January 10th 2022
And your Headlines for this afternoon include
Huge Change Of Plans To Wrestlemania 38 Main Event! Will Roman Reigns Enter As Universal Champion?
Impact World Champion Moose Proposes Match With Top WWE Superstar !
Update On WWE’s Fight For The Man Trademark With Ric Flair !
Former AEW World Champion Fires Back At Fans Critical Of Their Women’s Division !
AEW Dark Wrestler Stars In Their Own Documentary Series On Roku !
Former WWE Superstar Signs With Impact Wrestling! Who’s The Latest To Join The Company?
Backstage Notes On Impact Hard To Kill 2022. What’s Next?
WWE Hall Of Famer And Former World Champion Make Surprise Appearance At Smackdown ! And More !
We’re kicking off with Day 1, where Brock Lesnar was a late-addition to the WWE Championship
match, and captured the title from Big E.
Despite being the reigning WWE Champion, all reports indicate that the long-rumoured
WrestleMania match between Lesnar and Universal Champion Roman Reigns is still on, but that
doesn’t mean both men will be champion.
In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that with Lesnar appearing on
SmackDown since returning to WWE, the WWE title could soon become the top prize of the blue
brand, while the Universal title may move to RAW.
Last week, it was announced that RAW’s Seth Rollins will challenge Reigns for the title at the Royal Rumble, and
if the Architect can end Reign’s incredible run, then the Universal title will move to RAW.
This would free up Reigns to be the challenge heading into WrestleMania, facing off against Lesnar
for the WWE title instead of the Universal Championship.
It’s also worth mentioning that before Reigns’ positive test shook up all plans for Day 1, that Rollins was going
to be the one to end Big E’s reign, and it appears the plans for a Rollins World title reign aren’t over yet.
It had been expected that Reigns would hold the Universal title until WrestleMania, which would be
day 581, but the Tribal Chief could be walking into AT&T Stadium as a challenger, not a champion
For now, Reigns remains the Universal C hampion, and it’s not just the WWE Superstars who want a piece of him.
At Impact Hard to Kill 2022, Moose retained the Impact World Championship
in triple threat action, defeating W. Morrisey and Matt Cardona.
In a tweet after his victory, Moose speculated on a match between himself and the Head of the
Table, and referenced WWE’s Forbidden Door which has now been opened.
This isn’t the first time Moose has called out Reigns, as in October, he cut a scathing prom in which
he referenced AEW and WWE before proclaiming himself the greatest champion in all of pro-wrestling.
At this time, there’s no word on whether WWE or Impact will allow this match to happen, but
Moose may finally get his wish now WWE is open to working with other companies.
For years, WWE and Ric Flair have been at odds over the term ‘The Man’ which the Nature Boy believes belongs to him.
Of course, this is what Becky Lynch has been referred to for over three years, but hasn’t been calling
herself by that moniker as of late, leading to reports that WWE don’t own the term anymore
In an update from Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful he writes that WWE are very much still able to call
Lynch The Man, but have simply chosen not to use the nickname at this time.
As proof, Sapp pointed out that WWE is still selling The Man merch, and can release new
merchandise with that name should they wish.
Since returning last year, Lynch has become Big Time Becks, a cocky Champion who belittles her
opponents, but that doesn’t mean WWE can’t call her The Man despite what Ric Flair may claim.
Now, AEW has earned a huge fanbase over the past three years who are loyal to the company, but
one criticism the company has had to deal with is a lack of focus on their Women’s Division.
To AEW’s credit, there has been a notable effort to focus more on their female wrestlers including
crowning their first TBS Champion last week, but that isn’t enough for some fans.
On Twitter, Kenny Omega praised the recent Riho Vs. Britt Baker match, and after receiving some
hate from fans who don’t like the division, fired back saying:
It felt nice to tweet something I was passionate about, but yikes, what a mistake. What compels
people to leave cruel comments about others on my page? If you like someone/someplace else,
congrats. No need to go way out of your way to tweet at someone you already hate.
This response led to Omega’s name trending in a major way, as whether you agree or disagree with
his stance, everyone had something to say about the former AEW World Champion.
After losing the title at All Out, Omega is recovering from many injuries he’s accumulated over the past few
years, but he’s clearly still watching AEW’s product and ready to defend what they put on TV.
If you watch AEW Dark: Elevation, you may be already know the name Kayla Sparks, but plenty of
people are about to know a lot more about the wrestler.
This week, Roku released a new series ‘Against the Ropes,’ an eight-episode documentary about
Sparks, and her journey to becoming a pro-wrestler.
Sparks’ career officially began in 2006, but she only wrestled for a year before taking a lengthy break
from the ring, only to return 14 years later in July 2021.
Since then, Sparks has had two matches for AEW, both on Dark Elevation, losing to Thunder Rosa in
September 2021, and Riho the following month.
After a limited-series run on Roku, Against the Ropes will be picked up by Hulu and Amazon Prime
Video, in what will be some major exposure for Sparks, now over two months since her last match
Impact Wrestling news now, as the company is home to some ex-WWE talent, and now one former
Superstar has made his long- awaited return to the ring.
At the most recent TV tapings, which was filmed after Hard to Kill, Charlie Hass made his Impact
debut, over four years since his last professional match.
A veteran of WWE, Haas was with the company from 2000-2010, and is best remembered for
tagging with Shelton Benjamin, first as Team Angle and later the World’s Greatest Tag Team.
Unfortunately, it seems things haven’t gone as planned in Impact, as during the tapings, Haas was
stretchered out following an attack, and Tommy Dreamer informed the fans in attendance that the
wrestling veteran was legitimately hurt.
A three-time WWE Tag Champion and two-time ROH Tag Champion with Benjamin, we’ll certainly
hope Haas can make a speedy recovery after what happened at the taping, as WWE’s Forbidden
Door could mean fans get to see a World’s Greatest Tag Team reunion down the line.
Speaking of Impact, Hard to Kill 2022 was a huge night for the company, and now we know more
about what happened behind the scenes.
The show was praised by both fans and industry professionals alike, and according to PW Insider,
there was a similar sentiment within Impact after the show was finished.
Internally, the company was excited about the buzz they received following the announcement that
Mickie James will be in the WWE Women’s Royal Rumble, and her successful title defence against Deonna Purrazzo
marked the first time an Impact Pay Per View had been headlined by the Knockouts Title.
Regarding the ROH invasion, which saw several Ring of Honor alum show up, PW Insider reports that this will
continue, with Mike Bennett, Maria Kanellis, PCO, Matt Taven and Vincent all attending the next set of tapings.
The irony of this invasion is that none of the talent are actually signed to Ring of Honor now, but
were all let go in the wake of the hiatus, except for PCO who left in November.
Tom Hannifan, aka Tom Phillips, received universal praise for his commentary work with D‘Lo Brown, and
we’ll just have to wait and see what Impact does from here following a monumental start to 2021.
And we’re ending with last Friday’s SmackDown, which marked the return of Roman Reigns in his
first public appearance since his positive test, but he wasn’t the only big name in town.
In a photo snapped by a fan inside the Mohhegan Sun Arena, WWE Hall of Famer Bob Backlund can
be spotted chatting with WWE’s Executive Director Bruce Prichard.
It’s not clear what the pair were discussing, but the two legendary names in wrestling seemed
to be enjoying their reunion.
As a native of Connecticut, Backlund’s home in Glastonbury isn’t far from Uncasville, where last
week’s SmackDown took place, and after weeks of Prichard missing TV tapings, it’s good to see he
was back in time to catch up with an old friend.