Here's more wrestling news for April 13th 2022
And your headlines for Afternoon include
AEW Dynamite Is Getting Special Overrun Tomorrow!
WWE Legend's Daughter Has Cameo Role Alongside Dana Brooke On RAW!
Cody Rhodes Makes Fan's Dream Come True On RAW!
WWE Announces First Stadium Show In United Kingdom \In 30 Years!
WWE Wrestler Admits He Felt Unappreciated In WWE!
Real Reason WWE Just Changed Austin Theory's Ring Name!
Tony Khan Accused Of Losing His Mind After AEW Twitter Bot Claims!
WWE Called Out For Losing Faith In Asuka
Why WWE Mysteriously Replaced Rey Mysterio On RAW This Week?
WWE Wanted Pat McAfee Was To Team With Aaron Rodgers At WrestleMania! And More!
We’re kicking off with AEW Dynamite, as tonight’s show will have a special feel to the broadcast.
On Twitter, Tony Khan announced that after discussions with TBS, it’s been agreed that tonight’s show has been granted an overrun, and there will be more minutes allocated to the show.
Khan said that this is in responses to the “great fans, great ratings and a great card” but didn’t specify just how much longer Dynamite will have, saying it may be just a few minutes.
No matter how long the overrun lasts, Tony Khan is looking to make the most of this extra time, and it’ll be interesting to see just what closes out tonight’s Dynamite, after the usual 10pm
Eastern finish time.
Over to Raw next as this week’s show saw joint Bachelorette parties when Tamina and Dana Brooke prepared for their upcome nuptuials to Akira Tozawa and Reggie.
The guest list was certainly an interesting mix, as almost all stars involved had appeared on AEW Dark and Dark: Elevation over the past year, but there was one in particular who stood out.
Fans watching may have recognised the blonde extra in the black dress as Miranda Gordy, the daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Terry Gordy.
Part of the legendary Fabulous Freebirds, Terry Gordy also had a run in the WWF as the Executioner but didn’t last long in the role.
As for Miranda, it remains to be seen whether this appearance on Raw leads to anything bigger, but her wrestling heritage will no doubt play a factor if WWE decides to use her more.
More from Raw, as Cody Rhodes once again got a huge response from the crowd, and went the extra mile to make the night even more special for one fan in particular.
During the show, Cody gave his white weightlifting belt to a young fan sat at ringside, and judging by the video shared online, this meant a lot to the kid.
Not only was this a huge moment, but it was even more special as Rhodes had been informed that this was the young boy’s birthday and this made for one incredible birthday gift.
Cody has been giving out his weightlifting belt for a while now, but often had the belt thrown back at him during AEW events, including at the November 24th episode of Dynamite in Chicago
Illinois. Recently speaking to Busted Open Radio, Rhodes said that he knew he was departing AEW after an
event in Chicago, and while we can’t confirm that these are the same Chicago events, we imagine the constant hostile response from AEW’s fans was a factor in his decision to go.
We’re heading across the pond now, as after months of speculation and literally decades of waiting, the WWE has confirmed a huge stadium show in the UK.
Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales will play host to the show, which will be WWE’s first Stadium show in the U K since Summerslam 1992.
WWE have held off calling this a Premium Live Event, instead calling it a ‘major stadium event,’ but this will be the biggest show to hit the UK in quite some time.
In late 2019, Sami Zayn re-signed with WWE after rumours and speculation that he could jump to AEW.
Joining in 2013, Zayn has gone from lovable underdog to obsessive conspiracy theorist, but it’s not all been smooth sailing for the former Intercontinental Champion.
Speaking on the Out of Character podcast with Ryan Satin, Zayn discussed his WWE career and how there were times when he felt undervalued by the company.
“I’ve been pretty prominently featured since coming up on the main roster.It happened once or twice where I was just sitting on the sidelines and those are the only times I really did feel like
I was really unhappy here. It would only last maybe two or three weeks, tops but nothing is worse than feeling unappreciated and unvalued.”
Since re-signing with WWE, Zayn had shared the screen with the likes of Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar and Johnny Knoxville, and if this is anything to go by, the former three-time
Intercontinental Champion doesn’t have to worry about being underappreciated anymore.
This week, Austin Theory became the latest WWE Superstar to undergo a name change, as he’ll be working solely as Theory from now on.
Theory’s name change is just the latest change to the moniker of a Superstar, and the young Superstars follows the likes of Big E, Cesaro and Riddle to have his name shortened.
Typically, these changes are made so that a Superstar’s name is easier to trademark and put on merchandise, but that wasn’t the case for Theory.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that this c hange was approved personally by Vince McMahon, who did not like Theory and Stone Cold Steve Austin sharing the
the Austin name. It’s interesting that McMahon doesn’t want Theory to be associated with the Rattlesnake, as
following his performance at WrestleMania, Stone Cold has said he’s happy and has no plans on wrestling ever again.
With Theory getting a United States Championship opportunity on next week’s Raw, it’s clear that WWE haven’t g iven up on the young Superstar, even if they’ve given up on
his first name.
Last week, Tony Khan spoke out about critics of AEW, but did so in a way that has had everyone scratching their heads.
Rather than speak about the concerns some wrestling fans have, Khan claimed that critics of AEW are paid trolls and bots, and claimed that an independent study he’s paying for
has proved this. Khan provided no actual data for his claim but implied that WWE is responsible for this alleged army of bots and trolls.
Unsurprisingly, fans didn’t appreciate being told that they’re views on AEW aren’t valid and on his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T questioned what exactly Khan has been thinking:
“Is Tony Khan losing his damn mind? I know he’s off into analytics, I think he works in that field, but people are going to hate, okay? Everybody is not going to like ya. I know Eric
Bischoff said that Tony Khan had thin skin, and this came out right after that. I don’t know if that proves that or not.”
Booker isn’t the only person in the industry to question Khan, as several wrestlers parodied the AEW President’s claim oa bot farm, and Eric Bischoff has said he’s embrarrased for the
the AEW owner. We doubt this will be the last outlandish claim Khan makes, but it certainly hasn’t done him any
favours, and we imagine Booker isn’t the only person questioning the AEW President’s grip on reality.
We’re looking back at Money in the Bank 2021, where Asuka competed in her most recent match to date.
As one of the entrants in the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match, Asuka was unsuccessful in capturing the briefcase for the second time in her career, and fans have
grown concerned for her during this absence. It had previously been reported that Asuka had been cleared to wrestle, but the Empress of
Tomorrow called out the report as false, as she had been legitimately injured but has since made a full recovery.
Speaking on the Busted Open podcast, Mark Henry questioned how WWE is using Asuka, and whether they’ve lost faith in the former Women’s Champion:
“If WWE actually did lose faith in Asuka, I definitely think it’s their fault because when she came in she was not the same Asuka that left. The Asuka that left, you know, I would show
the Rocky videos of Asuka training. I would show her in the Dojo with the young girls. I would show her working out with the intent of coming back and her looking in the mirror
and seeing a video playing of all the success that she had and what she looked like when she had that success. And that’s all you need.”
Despite reports that she’d be returning for both the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 38, both events went by without Asuka, and it remains unclear when she’ll wrestle again for WWE.
Speaking of missing Superstars, Rey Mysterio didn’t appear on this week’s Raw despite being advertised for the show.
Rey was meant to face Veer Mahaan, who instead squashed Dominik Mysterio instead, with the young Superstar leaving the arena in an ambulance.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer explained why Rey was missing for the show, and when fans can expect to see him next:
“It’s a medical issue. It wasn’t false advertising or they changed their minds. He was unavailable tonight. So they put Dominik in the place and Dominik just got destroyed.
They could probably do Rey in a week or two.”
Meltzer didn’t specify what medical issue caused Rey to miss the show, but Raw also had to go on without Rhea Ripley, who was missing due to C-19 protocols.
Whatever the case is, hopefully Rey is feeling better soon, and we expect he’ll be hungry for revenge after the beating his son took on this past Monday’s show.
WrestleMania 38 news next, as Pat McAfee won big at the most stupendous show of the year, defeating Austin Theory in singles action.
A highlight of WWE TV each week, McAfee continues to prove himself in the business, and at one point was close to aligning himself with a very big name.
That’s according to Justin Barasso of Sports Illustrated, who reported this week that there were once plans for McAfee to team with NFL star Aaron Rodgers in WWE.
The plan was for the team-up to happen after McAfee’s incredible performance in WarGames in Drcember 2020, in which McAfee’s team came up short to the Undisputed Era.
WWE had “serious internal discussions” about having McAfee bounce back from the loss by teaming up with Rodgers, which would have brought huge mainstream notoriety to NXT.
Obviously this didn’t happen, but Barasso did point out that McAfee’s history as an NFL punter has made him some impressive friends, names that WWE would love to use.
The SmackDown commentator is good friends with Aaron Rodgers, and has had him on his show several times in the past, and while this crossover fell through, there’s plenty
that McAfee can bring to WWE, even when away from the announce table.
And we’re ending today with Sasha Banks, who won big at WrestleMania 38 by breaking her losing streak at the howcase of the immortals when she and Naomi captured
the Women’s Tag Team Championships. Now, the Boss has diamonds around her neck, gold around her waist and is celebrating with a new
diamond grill for her teeth. Banks and Naomi are set to take on Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan, though this match was postponed
because of Ripley’s absence on this week’s Raw, but for now, the Boss is showing off with her new grill on social media