Here's your wrestling news for February 3rd 2021
And your headlines for today include Why Lars Sullivan Was Fired? WWE Edge Moves To Smackdown! AEW Edited Match On Dynamite! WWE News! 3 00:00:07,290 --> 00:00:12,529 Real Reason Why Lars Sullivan Was Released Is Revealed!
What Actually Caused The Roman Reigns Botch At Royal Rumble Finally Revealed?
WWE Confirms Edge’s Appearance On NXT This Week!
Where Is Edge Headed Is Finally Revealed!
WWE Are Already Having Issues With Finding Bianca Belair’s WrestleMania Opponent!
AEW Heavily Edits Match On Dynamite Due To Inappropriate Content!
Why Angel Garza Was Pulled From Royal Rumble At Last Minute!
Why WWE Scrapped Plans For A Randy Orton-Edge WrestleMania 37 Match!
Drew McIntyre To Release His Memoir This Year And More!
We’re kicking off today with some WWE release news, as Lars Sullivan has been let go from the company.
That’s according to PW Insider, who are reporting that the Freak is a free agent and has been released, though
no public statement has been made by WWE. The same report from PW Insider also
noted that Sullivan was quietly released from WWE a month ago, but it wasn’t until now that WWE officials confirmed his
departure. Sullivan was brought to the main roster with a WrestleMania program with
John Cena in mind, which would’ve seen him attack Cena at the 2019 Royal Rumble, and have a feud that’d
go to WrestleMania. An anxiety attack caused those plans to change, and when he debuted later
that year, Sullivan used the Wild-card rule to attack names on RAW and SmackDown, including notable stars
like Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio and the Hardy Boys. An unfortunate knee injury cut this run
short, and when he returned over a year later, rumours circulated that the Freak was in store for a monster push
and feud with Braun Strowman, and attacked names like Jeff Hardy, Riddle and The Miz.
After just a few weeks though, Sullivan was taken off TV, reportedly because WWE wanted to keep Roman Reigns as
SmackDown’s sole top heel, and it seems like some in WWE may have already been plotting to sabotage his
career. That’s according to Fightful Select, who reported:
“Many that we spoke to in November had no idea the creative direction or intention of Lars Sullivan’s promos,
particularly the shirtless one with Michael Cole. A high-level WWE source had sad that it “seemed like sabotage or a test”
to put Sullivan in such a spot.” Sullivan’s time away from the ring wasn’t exactly good for him either,
as controversial comments from his past, both before and after signing with WWE, came back to haunt him, leading
to a $100,000 fine by the company and mandatory sensitivity training
In a post on the Wrestling Observer Forum, Dave Meltzer dismissed rumours that WWE not having any
plans for Sullivan, and said that though Vince McMahon wanted to push the Freak, Sullivan no-showed TV.
It’s not clear if this no-showing was due to the anxiety that kept him from feuding with John Cena, or other reasons,
but now Sullivan will have to forge his own path outside WWE.
Royal Rumble news next, as a huge botch during the show nearly saw a new Universal Champion crowned.
When Kevin Owens handcuffed Roman Reigns close to the ground during their Last Man Standing Match, the Tribal
Chief was nearly counted out, and one referee even had to stop have even when he should counting,
Speaking on the post-RAW edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Melter revealed the shocking reason why
Paul Heyman struggled so much to free the Universal Champion: “The handcuffs, the hole with the key
was on the wrong side. The keyhole was on the wrong side. They didn't get it in time or something. Time stood still.”
Meltzer had no explanation when Bryan Alverez asked why Heyman didn’t turn the handcuff over, and when asked
why they didn’t use Bolt cutters, he noted that they wouldn’t have gotten to Heyman before the ten-count.
Given his decades in wrestling, Heyman is considered one of the smartest men in wrestling of all time, but hopefully he’ll
one day learn how to lock and unlock a pair of handcuffs correctly.
Last Sunday’s Royal Rumble also saw Edge win the Men’s Rumble match, and now the two-time Rumble winner is keeping
his options open. WWE have confirmed that Edge will be appearing on tonight’s edition of NXT,
presumably to confront NXT Champion Finn Balor.
Balor joined WWE long after Edge retired, so the pair have never had a chance to meet face to face until now.
Edge’s wife and NXT Commentator Beth Phoenix praised her husband’s return at the Rumble, and his half-hour main
event on RAW, adding that she can’t wait to see what he has in store on NXT. On the WWE on FOX Twitter account,
it was confirmed that Edge will appear on SmackDown this Friday, the same show he ruled for many years.
After sending a warning to WWE Champion Drew McIntyre on RAW, it’s likely that Edge will be confronting
Universal Champion Roman Reigns on SmackDown, and it’ll be interesting to hear what both men have to say.
From one Rumble winner to another now, as Bianca Belair won the Women’s Royal Rumble match, and now has a
shot at either the RAW, SmackDown or NXT Women’s Championships at WrestleMania 37.
Though many fans are expecting Belair to challenge SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks this April, that
isn’t the plan right now, as Dave Melter explained on Wrestling Observer Radio.
“They have not completely decided, so we are still up in the air on that one. But I think it's going to be Sasha Banks
because it just feels like she's on SmackDown, and it just makes sense.” Meltzer added that though Belair could
challenge RAW Women’s Champion Asuka, it feels like WWE are building to the Empress facing Charlotte Flair,
which’d be a rematch of their WrestleMania 34 rivalry.
Interestingly, NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai wasn’t discussed, and fans will have to wait and see what WWE has
planned for the EST of WWE.
AEW news next, and as part of TNT, the company has to make their bosses happy, and that means having to heavily
edit last week’s edition of Dynamite. That’s according to Dave Meltzer, who revealed that last week’s match pitting
the the Young Bucks and the Good Brothers against the Dark Order was the most edited match in the history of AEW.
This wasn’t down to any botches in the ring, as Meltzer explained:
“Gallows and Anderson kept doing jacking off stuff and pot stuff and stuff like that. They had to edit all those
references off television, so that was a little secret about last Wednesday’s show.”
This isn’t the first time AEW has had their content censored, as the Inner C ircle’s visit to Las Vegas was edited
because it had too many jokes about marijuana. AEW is often credited as an alternative
to WWE which allows their talent to push the envelope more than Vince McMahon’s company, but these jokes
were apparently too hot for TV.
Back to WWE now and though a total 60 Superstars were needed to fill last Sunday’s two Rumble matches, some
names didn’t make the cut. During Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that Angel Garza was
originally booked for the Men’s Royal Rumble match, but was cut before the show.
Despite earlier plans for him to be in the match, WWE clearly couldn’t find a spot for him in the 30-man match, and had to
leave him out. This is just the latest worrying story about the Lothario, and given that we
we haven’t seen him on WWE TV in quite some time, things aren’t looking good for a man Vince McMahon once
saw as the next Eddie Guerrero.
One person who did make it to the Rumble and won big is Edge, who now has a World title match guaranteed for
WrestleMania 37. Though Edge will be headling the two-night event, it wasn’t too long ago
that reports stated that Edge would be facing Orton in April, in the third-match as part of their feud.
Now though, Orton is rumoured to face The Fiend at WrestleMania, and now we know why the Edge-Orton plans fell through.
According to Meltzer, the original plan was for an I-Quit match between the two, but it was Edge who pitched the idea
of him winning the Men’s Rumble, and maybe winning the championship. That idea clearly appealed to WWE officials,
as Edge and Orton had their match on this week’s RAW, rather than WrestleMania.
Though we’re not fond of wrestlers pitching for themselves to win the Royal Rumble, Edge winning was definitely
the right call, and gave fans a much- needed feel-good moment after a difficult year.
Drew McIntyre news next, and In addition to being the WWE Champion, the Scotsman is a Tag Champion, NXT
Champion, Intercontinental Champion and soon to be a published author.
This week, it was confirmed that McIntyre will have his memoirs published this year, and ‘A Chosen
Destiny’ will release on May 4th. The book will be published by Gallery Brooks, an imprint of Simon and
an audiobook version will also be released with McIntyre reading.
In a press release, it was revealed that the book will go from Drew’s childhood to his wrestling origins in the UK Butlin’s
circuit, as well as the highs and lows of his WWE career. From being a member of 3MB to
becoming WWE Champion, fans have seen much of McIntyre’s career, and now they’ll be able to read about his life
first-hand when the book releases.