Here's your wrestling news for May 4th 2022
And your headlines for today include
Vince McMahon Adds New Term To WWE’S Banned Words List
Lady Frost Is Dealing With Troubling Stalker Situation
Why Sheamus Decided To Leave WWE? Why Was Sheamus Summoned To Vince McMahon’s Office?
‘Mini Brock Lesnar Had A Ton Of Potential’: 3-Time WWE Champion Shoots On Vince McMahon After Recent WWE Releases
AEW - Fight Forever Video Game Roster Set To Include 50 Stars!
Major Backstage Update On Stu Grayson’s AEW Departure And Possible Return!
Ronda Rousey Told Becky Lynch Not To Mention Her Mom Or She Might Kill Her
CM Punk Makes Cameo On Mayans M.C.
Is Sasha Banks Being Sent Back To WWE NXT 2.0?
BIG News Concerning RIHO AEW Return!
Tony Khan Chose To Send Wheeler Yuta To NJPW OVER AEW Double Or Nothing! And More!
We’re kicking off today with WWE, who have a long list of words that are banned from the company’s programming, and that Superstars risk being severely punished if they ever use.
Some words, such as kill, stab and murder, make sense to be banned, while calling someone a Diva, once a staple of WWE TV, is now banned due to the Women’s Revolution.
Now, another word has been added to the list, as on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that calling a match a “non-title” match is now strictly prohibited.
On this week’s Raw, the handicap match between Mustafa Ali against The Miz and U.S. Champion Theory was called “a non- ttle championship contender’s match” which clearly was a mistake.
Vince McMahon knows exactly what he wants to hear on his shows, and exactly what he doesn’t want to hear, and while matches were often called non-title matches to help build towards a
championship match, this term is now a thing of the past.
Over to Impact next, as Lady Frost has climbed the ranks of the promotion since signing in the summer of 2021, but she’s now dealing with a scary situation out of the ring.
On Twitter, Frost shared some important and troubling news with her fans, saying she’s dealing with a stalker, and warned her fans not to send any money to accounts claiming to be her.
It seems that her own social media has been compromised as well, as she said her Instagram is gone, meaning someone could be using her verified account to scam fans.
This is just the latest example of a wrestler having to deal with a scammer using their name to try and swindle unsuspecting fans, and we can only hope Lady Frost is able to bring an end to this
stalker situation very soon.
Back to WWE as last week, the company had a brief tour of Europe take place, with fans from England, France and Germany all getting to see the Superstars live in action.
Traditionally, WWE uses these European tours to give an extra shine to their European Superstars, but one Superstar didn’t compete nearly as much as fans had thought.
It turns out that Sheamus only competed for half of the tour, leading fans to question whether he’d perhaps injured himself during the tour, which would explain why he didn’t compete on the second half.
That thankfully isn’t the case, as PW Insider reports that mid-way through the tour, WWE decided on replacing Sheamus with Butch in an effort to give the former United Kingdom Champion some more exposure.
Despite speculation, it turns out that Sheamus isn’t injured at all, and he wasn’t removed due to any issues backstage, but this is just the latest issue for the former World Heavyweight Champion.
According to sources, Sheamus is quite unhappy with how his current direction has been in WWE, and in February, even expressed his desire to quit the company.
When he informed WWE’s higher ups about his decision, saying that he was mad about the booking, Bruce Prichard set up a meeting with ' Vince McMahon, who was able to coax Sheamus back after making
several promises. There’s no word on what Sheamus was promised, but he hasn’t left the company yet, but being
removed from the European tour in favour of somebody younger may be another problem for the Irish Superstar.
Now, last Friday, ten Superstars were cut from NXT 2.0 and many people have weighed in with their view on the latest cuts.
Since WWE started cutting people in massive waves two years ago, Mick Foley has never shied away from discussing the releases, often clashing with WWE, and this time was no different.
Speaking during an episode of the In The Kliq podcast, Foley encouraged the released Superstars to keep their heads up, and took aim at some of the choices made:
“Mr. McMahon has a great track record of [laughs]. There are some people he let go, who go on to be bigger stars than they were with him.”
“I really enjoyed Dexter Lumis. I enjoyed the one guy who looked like a mini Brock Lesnar [Harland], had a ton of potential. Dakota Kai is a head-scratcher. I would just advise the talent to just keep
going. There are other places to go
There are certainly other places to go, as Lumis has already found work for the ARW indie promotion, and we expect Tony Khan will be interested in a few names that have been released.
Ultimately, the decision to release any Superstar comes down to Vince McMahon, but even one of the Chairman’s biggest stars isn’t thrilled with what’s transpired.
Now, AEW is currently working on their upcoming video game, Fight Forever, which will be the first Console video game for the All-Elite promotion.
Fans are anxiously waiting for the game to hit shelves, and now more details have emerged about this huge project.
According to Fightful Select, the game will have around 50 wrestlers on its roster, but it’s said that there are some notable names who won’t be in the first release of Fight Forever.
Names we do know will be in the game include Sting, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole, Ruby Soho and Owen Hart, and the developers are continuing to work to improve the character models.
Former World Champion Kenny Omega, in addition to being in the game is said to have been instrumental in taking the game to it’s current stage of development, and that he was a huge part in
getting Hideyuki Iwashita, the director of WWF No Mercy, on board.
No Mercy on the Nintendo 64 is often heralded as one of the best w restling games of all time, and the report adds that Iwashita has proven to be incredibly valuable to the production of Fight Forever.
The game is being created by Yuke’s Pacific, the team responsible for developing some classic WWE games before 2k took over, and with a rumoured September release date, it may not be long at all
before players finally get their hands on AEW: Fight Forever.
One name who may have to be pulled from AEW: Fight Forever is Stu Grayson, who has left AEW after his contract with the company expired.
Grayson had been with AEW since their very first event, Double or Nothing, in May 2019, and we now know more about his departur0 from the promotion.
In an update from Fightful, it’s noted that AEW did offer the Dark Order member a new deal, but he turned it down, and the two sides were unable to come to terms before his contract expired
on May 1st. It’s also noted that AEW are “disappointed” to have lost Grayson, and that the door is always open for him to return to the company one day.
For now though, Grayson’s time with the promotion has ended, and it’s unclear where he’ll go next, but with more AEW contracts set to expire this year, many more could depart from Tony Khan’s company in the
in the coming months.
In 2019, Ronda Rousey feuded with Becky Lynch, culminating in the Man giving Rousey her first ever defeat in WWE.
The war between Rousey and Lynch was intense and deeply personal, especially as fans gravitated towards the Irish Superstar and turned on Rousey, but some suggestions were too hot for TV.
Speaking on the Wives of Wrestling podcast, Rousey discussed the Lynch feud with Giovanna Angle and Kim Orton, and how Lynch was warned not to bring her family into this:
I had to at one point tell Becky like, ‘hey Becky. I don’t think you can say anything else with my mom, because when she might kill you if she sees you.
My mom literally said to me… ‘these people might pay you to put up with this kind of sh*t, no one’s paying me, if anyone says sh*t about me, and I see them in person, I’m going to break their f*cking arm.”
Ronda Rousey may be known as the baddest woman on the planet, but it seems she learned that from her mother, who is ready to throw down with anyone if they talk trash about her on WWE TV.
Now, CM Punk is a wrestler for AEW, and could become their next AEW World Champion, but the Best in the World has also tried his hand in acting.
Punk’s role in 2019 thriller ‘Girl on the Third Floor’ earned the Chicago -Made star rave reviews, and this week, he made a cameo appearance on Tuesday’s Mayan’s M.C. on Fox.
Punk was shown when the character of Gilly, portrayed by Vincent Vargas, drove out to a neighborhood and knocked on the door of a house, which the former WWE Champion answered.
Playing an old military buddy of Gilly, the door is open for Punk to return to the show one day, and this week’s appearance made for a fun bonus for wrestling fans of the show.
Recently, WWE introduced a policy with NXT 2.0, that states that at least one main-roster wrestler should be with the brand at all times.
That’s why we’ve seen AJ Styles, Dolph Ziggler and most recently, Natalya appear for NXT 2.0, and now another name is eyeing up a return to the brand.
During a press conference as part of the recent European Tour, Women’s Tag Team Champion Sasha Banks said that she would love to return to NXT one day, and says she has a little history
with NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose.
Banks also pointed out that she helped train Kayden Carter and Kacy Catanzaro, as she did some training seminars at the wrestling school of D-Von Dudley.
A former NXT Women’s Champion in her own right, Banks would bring a lot of attention to NXT 2.0 should she return, and we’ll have to see if that’s something WWE agrees to when the time is right.
Speaking of returns, AEW’s Riho hasn’t been seen with the promotion in a very long time, ever since she suffered a collar bone injury during a match with Britt Baker in January.
Riho was able to continue the match despite the injury, and now her return is just days away.
As confirmed by Tony Khan, the inaugural AEW Women’s World Champion will face off against Yuka Sakazaki on this Friday’s Rampage in an Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Qualifier Tournament.
With the Stanley Cup playoffs happening, this week’s Rampage will start at 5:30pm, and we’ll have to see which Japanese wrestler qualifies for the upcoming Owen Hart Foundation tournament.
Earlier this week, we reported on Roderick Strong, who has requested his release from WWE.
It’s been noted that Strong has requested his release multiple times from the company, as he’s been unhappy with how he’s been featured since the Undisputed Era split, and the many changes and
releases that have affected his Diamond Mine stable. With the other three members of the Undisputed Era in AEW, as is his wife Marina Shafir, joining
Tony Khan seems to be the obvious choice for Strong, which may explain why WWE has repeatedly rejected his request to be cut.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed Roddy’s situation, saying that while he could always just quit, WWE can freeze his deal, which wouldn’t do him any good.
Unless WWE accepts his request, then it appears Strong’s only option is to wait out his contract, but given that he re-signed last year, he has a good couple of years left on his deal.
Meltzer said that if WWE had plans for him on the main roster, he would be on it right now, and with the recent releases and changes to the Diamond Mine, Strong simply “doesn’t really fit in” with
WWE anymore. With years left on his contract, Roderick Strong isn’t going anywhere until WWE allows it, so it may
be a very long time before he gets to join Adam Cole, Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly in AEW.
And we’re ending today with Wheeler Yuta, who is set to compete in this year’s New Japan Pro Wrestling Best of the Super Juniors tournament.
The prestigious annual competition will take place from May 15th through June 3rd, which will prove to be a problem as it clashes with Double or Nothing.
AEW’s flagship show will take place on May 29th, and on Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alverez said that having Yuta compete in the tournament was entirely Tony Khan’s decision.
Alverez said that competing in the tournament will be a bigger deal for Yuta than one show with AEW, and it’ll allow Khan to have Yuta serve as an ambassador for his company overseas.
Yuta has been gaining a fan base as part of the Blackpool Combat Club, but won’t be at Double or Nothing, and time will tell what’s in store for the BCC.