Here's your wrestling news for February 24th 2021
And your headlines for today include Big Show (Paul Wight) Joins AEW! John Cena Called Out! The Miz Makes WWE History! AEW News! WWE News
An Update On Asuka Following Her Injury!
Why Drew McIntyre Was Missing From WWE RAW This Week?
The Miz Makes WWE History At Elimination Chamber!
John Cena Called Out For Stealing!
Jimmy Uso Training For Comeback To The Ring!
How CM Punk Got Jon Moxley To Break Character ?
Velvet Sky Says Dixie Carter Was A Vile Person!
Riddle Gets A MAJOR Warning After Calling The Undertaker’s Generation ‘ Dumb Guys’
Kurt Angle Is Upset About Putting Lars Sullivan Over On His Way Out Of WWE!
Another WWE Superstar Suffered Possible Injury On WWE RAW!
Bully Ray: ‘That Was No Promo, That Was Ashley Fliehr Talking To Richard Fliehr’! And More!
We’re starting off today with RAW Women’s Champion Asuka, who suffered a nasty injury on this week’s
RAW. During her match, it appeared that the Empress lost a tooth thanks to a
kick from Shayna Baszler, and now we have an update on what happened.
According to PW Insider, the kick was legitimate, and the Champion was checked on backstage by medical staff
after the match. It’s currently unclear whether Asuka required treatment, and what the
exact nature of her injury is, and it’s also not know whether Asuka will need time away from TV to recover.
The last thing WWE needs is for Asuka to be out of action, especially this close to WrestleMania, and hopefully we won’t
need to see the RAW Women’s Championship be vacated again.
This week’s RAW also saw Reckoning return to TV alongside the rest of Retribution, but fans should enjoy the
team whilst they can. Lately, the stable haven’t been on the same page at all, and on Wrestling
Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed that the group’s days may be numbered. He said:
“They may be splitting that whole group up the way it looked tonight. I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s not like
this group has caught fire or anything.” An idea from Vince McMahon himself, Retribution has struggled from their
beginnings, and the masks and names given to them by WWE didn’t help at all.
After yet another loss and tongue- lashing by Mustafa Ali, it looks like the group’s morale is irredeemable,
so fans shouldn’t expect them around for much longer.
Speaking of RAW, Drew McIntyre was nowhere to be seen on this week’s show, as the focus over the
WWE Championship was between the new champion The Miz and Bobby Lashley.
A WWE Championship match between Miz and Lashley was booked for next week’s show, and on Wrestling
Observer Radio, Meltzer explained that this would’ve been difficult to book had McIntyre been around.
Meltzer noted that had Drew been on the show, then fans would’ve been questioning why the former Champion
isn’t the first in line for a rematch, and why he wouldn’t just immediately attack Miz or Lashley after what they did at
Elimination Chamber. As for where Drew was, PW Insider reported that the two-time former
Champion was in the Thunderdome, but simply wasn’t shown on TV.
Having McIntyre off last night’s RAW also helped put over the vicious attack Lashley gave him at Elimination Chamber,
and with no reports of a legitimate injury, fans can expect the Scotsman back on next week’s show.
But what do you think’s next for the former Champion? Do you see him challenging for the title soon, and if so,
when will that title match take place? Let us know in the comments.
With a title match against Lashley promised for next week, and McIntyre hungry to get the title back, The Miz’s
days as WWE Champion may be numbered, but with his win at Elimination Chamber, the A-Lister
made history in his own way. After cashing-in and becoming a two -time WWE Champion, Miz is now
the first and only Superstar to have completed the modern-day WWE grand-slam twice.
That means that Miz is the only person to have become a multi-time WWE Champion, multi-time Intercontinental
Champion, multi-time United States Champion and multi-time Tag Team Champion.
Several Superstars are close to becoming two-time Grand Slam champions, with Edge and Seth Rollins
being just one more U.S title away, and Rey Mysterio and Kofi Kingston being one more WWE Title win away,
but for now, only the A-Lister can claim this incredible achievement, and will always be the man who did it first.
We’re going back in time to 2012 now, as The Rock defeated John Cena in what was described at the time as a once in a
lifetime match. Of course, we all know that they had a rematch the next year, and whilst
The Rock’s WrestleMania 28 win was a huge moment for the People’s Champion, Cena wasn’t happy.
That’s according to former WWE referee Mike Chioda, who spoke on Mailbag Mondays about the real-life
beef between the two megastars at the time. He said: I think Cena had a little bit of a problem
doing the job as here is Cena, carrying the torch for the last ten years I think at that time, and he was busting his
a** day in, day out. And here comes The Rock back after so many years of being in Hollywood, and he’s got to
job out to The Rock? Well, of course, the show is in Miami We definitely see where Cena was
was coming from, and The Rock was the start of part-time wrestlers getting pushed over full-time talent.
Once WWE proved that they were willing to push older, part-timers over current Superstars, that opened the
doors for the likes of Goldberg and Brock Lesnar to win huge matches and championships, almost always at the
expense of the current-day talent. The irony is that it’s now Cena who is a part-time Superstar,
as his acting career continues to flourish, and we’ll have to see whether he’s willing to do the job if he ever returns.
If you’ve visited John Cena’s Instagram, you’ll know it’s a strange place where you can find images
with no captions, and that recently caused an issue between Cena and the artist.
When the 16-time WWE World Champion shared an image of R- Truth as Cena’s Peacemaker character,
playing off Cena being Truth’s childhood hero, Abdulmalik the artist responsible for the image wasn’t
pleased, and asked Cena if he could credit him since his logo was cropped out of the picture.
A short time later, Cena’s IG story account displayed Abdulmalik’s name, as it seems that Cena didn’t deliberately
crop the name out, but the image was cropped by Instagram. We’re pleased that Abdulmalik got the
proper credit for his mash-up of Truth and Peacemaker, as Cena avoided an Instagram controversy with his quick
thinking.
At WrestleMania 37, Edge will challenge Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship, in the next chapter of the
Hall of Famer’s incredible return to in- ring action. Returning at the 2020 Royal Rumble
Pay Per View, 9 years after he was forced to retire, Edge’s return has been nothing short of miraculous,
but Booker T doesn’t feel it’ll have a happy ending, as he explained on his Hall of Fame podcast. He said:
“Honestly, he [EDGE] doesn’t match up with Roman Reigns. Roman is a beast, Roman has proved that he is
truly “The Guy”. I really feel that way.” Booker also discussed what Edge has accomplished thus far, saying.
“Come back, wins the Rumble, going to WrestleMania, takes on Roman, wins, Cinderella story. Of course,
everybody would love to see it, but normally story doesn’t turn out that way in the end in WWE.”
Many fans are considering it just a matter of time before Edge is Universal Champion, but we’ll have to see what’s
in store for the Tribal Chief, who has been nothing short of unstoppable since his own return last Summer.
Over to SmackDown, and after nearly a year away from the ring, Jimmy Uso is looking like he’s ready to return.
On Twitter, Jimmy’s brother Jey posted a video of Jimmy working out, and said that his brother is finally getting back in
the gym. Jimmy has been out since suffering a knee injury at night one of WrestleMania
36, and in his time away, his brother has risen up the SmackDown ranks, aligning himself with Roman Reigns.
If Jimmy returns soon, then he could be a pivotal part of the Tribal Chief’s road to WrestleMania, and it’ll be interesting to
see whether he sides with his family, or sides with Edge ahead of their huge Universal Championship match this April.
Now, the January 6th, 2014 edition of RAW was a special night, as during Old School RAW, Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts
returned to WWE, carrying his trademark sack. From the sack, emerged one of Jake’s
many snakes, which he draped over the prone Dean Ambrose, who was meant to be out cold, but judging by the
smile on Ambrose’s face, that wasn’t the case. Speaking to Inside the Ropes, Jon
Moxley explained why he couldn’t help but smile during the moment, and it wasn’t because of the emotional
return of Roberts. He explained: “I’m trying real hard to not sell that he’s tickling my face. CM Punk was in a ring
and he just goes, ‘That snake s*** on your face!’ So I started laughing and I was supposed to be knocked out from the
DDT, and I was laughing at him yelling that snake s*** in my face, which it didn’t – it did not s*** on my face.”
Interestingly, that would be one of Punk’s last moments on RAW, before he walked out of WWE later that month, but
at least he left getting a laugh out of the Lunatic Fringe.
Now, earlier this year, Lars Sullivan was quietly released from WWE, less than two years after his main-roster debut.
On the post-WrestleMania 35 edition of RAW, Sullivan attacked Kurt Angle, fresh off of losing his last match to
Baron Corbin, and this segment is a moment Angle now sorely regrets.
Speaking on his podcast this week, the Olympian explained:
I ended my career on a high note and then all of a sudden Lars Sullivan came out. I wouldn’t have been upset if Lars
Sullivan worked out… I had to put Lars over, just another one of those things I did before I made my way out of the
company as a wrestler.” Now, Sullivan is lucking to get into the bare knuckle fighting world, which
he’ll hopefully have more success in, and whilst Angle was a professional and put the Freak over, that doesn’t
mean he’s 100% happy about it.
Do you think Kurt was right to put Sullivan over? Sound off in the comments.
Back to RAW, and this Monday’s show was a rough night for John Morrison, who reportedly suffered an injury
thanks to a bad dive. That’s according to Dave Meltzer who spoke on Wrestling Observer Radio,
saying:
“Morrison got hurt on a dive and he landed right on his knee. It was Riddle [that he landed on], but then he
smashed his knee on the floor. He finished the match and everything, but you could tell when he came back out
with The Miz that he was limping pretty hard. He was trying not to show it, but he was moving pretty slow and
gingerly. Hopefully, his thing isn’t too bad.” At this time, there’s been no official
word on if Morrison suffered an injury, and if he is, hopefully he won’t be out for long, as his best friend The Miz
could certainly use him now that he’s WWE Champion.
Now, United States Champion Riddle recently said how current WWE Superstars are simply smarter than
older generations, a comment which didn’t sit well with one WWE Hall of Famer.
On his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T spoke about Riddle’s comments, which were themselves a response to
the Undertaker saying that today’s wrestlers are softer for playing video games backstage. Booker said:
“If Riddle did say anything about what The Undertaker said, regarding whatever it is, it should be a problem.
It’s the first real interview The Undertaker ever given. For someone to be giving him pushback on what he
business is today, that person should talk to him and not some reporter. That’s just my take on it. Should it be
some pushback, as far as guys like myself if he did call
guys from my era, ‘those are just dumb guys’ – what do you mean by that, first and foremost? And how did
you come to that conclusion? I was reading the part as far as MMA guys, you know, they’re really, really tough.
Go and work for Dana White. Remember what Dana White said at the end of his run in the UFC. Go back and do that if
that’s what you want to do. But if you’re doing this (WWE) and you’re confusing it with doing that (UFC), it’s a problem
If someone doesn’t address it, it’s going to continue to be a problem.”
As the new United States Champion, and recently signing a new deal with WWE, Riddle clearly isn’t going anywhere
but the Original Bro can now add Booker T to the list of legends and veterans of wrestling he’s managed
to annoy.
And we’re ending today with news from Monday Night RAW, which saw a confrontation between Ric Flair and his
daughter Charlotte. The segment concluded with Charlotte sending her father home, as it seems
their feud that only recently started is over, at least for the time being.
With Lacey Evans pregnant and unable to compete, the feud with her and Charlotte has been put on hold, and on
busted open Radio, Bully Ray had nothing but praise for the segment:
“There was no promo. That was Ashley Fliehr talking to Richard Fliehr. Straight up shoot, brother. How are
you not into it?... she said, ‘Dad. I appreciate you, everything you’ve done for me and I love you.’ She
wanted to end it on a positive note. … If you can’t see her in a different light or you can’t move away from the hatred
of this women then I don’t know what will ever do it for you. The WWE and Impact Hall of Famer
was certainly a fan, but what did you think of Charlotte’s promo, and where do you see her character going from
here? Let us know below.