Here's more wrestling news for March 25th 2022
And your headlines for Afternoon include
Tony Khan Takes A MAJOR DIG At WWE ; Says Nobody Does Pay-Per-Views Better Than Him
Pete Dunne Shares Honest Feelings About His Name Change On WWE Smackdown!
Former WWE Tag Team To Reunite After Three Years To Wrestle The Hardy Boyz In First-Time-Ever Match!
Drew McIntyre Says Happy Corbin Match Is As Big As Challenging For WWE Championship!
Gable Steveson Says His WWE Career Will Start When WrestleMania Hits!
Gable Steveson Addresses Issues With Keeping His Real Name In WWE!
Paige VanZant Set To Make Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship Return!
Sting Locks Down Trademarks For His Face Paint Design!
Paul Wight Wants To Wrestle In His Hometown On Next Week’s AEW Dynamite! And More!
We’re kicking off today with Tony Khan, who is both the President of AEW and new owner of Ring of Honor.
In just a few short years, Khan has become a major force in the pro wrestling industry, which several Pay Per View events already to his name.
Next week, ROH will have their Supercard of Honor event, the first show under Khan, and TK is promising a huge event, just like he’s provided with AEW.
On Busted Open Radio, Khan bragged about his Pay Per View events saying:
“I only know one way to do pay-per-view,” Tony Khan said. “ It’s going 100% and doing the very best you can. So, I promise to make that pay-per-view great… People can troll
and can say what they want, but the people that have actually ordered the pay-per-views know nobody does pay-per-view better at this point. And that’s not an opinion, that’s a fact.”
Khan added that despite the show having been announced long before he took control of ROH, he thought it was right to keep the show on schedule after his purchase, saying that
fans had already paid for the event. We’ll have to see whether Ring of Honor’s first show back after their hiatus will be a successful one
or not under Tony Khan’s leadership, but the AEW President isn’t lacking in confidence.
Now, the March 11th edition of SmackDown is an event that’ll go down in history as the night Big E suffered a broken neck, but it was also the night Pete Dunne was called up to the
main-roster. As if debuting the night of a huge injury wasn’t bad enough, Dunne also was rechristend ‘Butch,’ a name change that
like countless others hasn’t gone down well with fans. Fans have been calling the former United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne for years now, and that’s why the name change
works, as Butch told Mark Andrews on the latter’s podcast: “It’s just different but I think it’s time to change it up a little bit. Like I said, five years, fresh start, why
not try something a little new?... If I can endear the crowd with the quality of my in-ring work, that’s what I’m looking to continue to do.”
Whatever Butch does next, we’re sure he’ll excel in the ring, but time will tell whether fans can look past his name change and see the massively talented former United Kingdom Champion.
Throughout their WWE run, the team of Eno Amore and Big Cass we’re one of the company’s most popular teams before their random split in mid-2017.
Now, the two are set to team together for the first time in years, as this Sunday, they’ll be competing for Northeast Wrestling against none other than the Hardys.
Despite being two of WWE’s most popular teams at the time, Enzo and Cass never faced Matt and Jeff in a straight-up tag team match in WWE, making this a rare first-time ever collision
for the two popular tag teams.
At WrestleMania 38, Drew McIntyre will face Happy Corbin in a singles match that many fans have considered a downgrade for the Scottish Warrior.
After two straight years of WWE title matches, facing Corbin with no stakes is hardly the same level of match we’ve seen for Drew, but that’s not how the two-time former World Champion sees it.
On The Bump, McIntyre discussed his upcoming match, and said that this is just as big as competingfor a World Championship. He explained:
“I defeated Brock for the WWE Championship and fought for the WWE Championship against Lashley last year, then this year it is Corbin. A lot of people might think one of these are
like the other but at the same time this one is as big as the others… I could have taken him out anytime over the past few weeks. But I want to wait for WrestleMania 38, the biggest
stage of them all.” McIntyre is the heavy favourite to defeat Corbin next weekend, and with WWE short of credible
contenders, don’t be surprised if the Scottish Superstars returns to the World title picture sooner rather than later.
Last weekend, Gable Steveson captured his second straight \ NCAA Championship and declared that his amateur wrestling career has come to an end.
Now, the Olympic Gold Medalist is looking to start a new chapter of his life as a WWE Superstar, and there’s been questions as to when exactly he’ll debut.
Speaking with the MMA Hour, Steveson discussed his WWE plans and said he’s been speaking with three very notable names, Paul Heyman, Triple H and WWE President Nick Khan.
These are three very big names for Steveson to have on his side, and he also spoke about his WWE career saying it’ll start either at, or shortly after WrestleMania 38.
This certainly implies that Steveson’s main-roster debut is coming very soon, as he’s so far only made guest appearances either in the ring or in the crowd.
Gable won’t be following his brother Bobby to NXT, but will jump straight to the main roster and his time on the Raw brand may be mere days away from getting started.
While WWE will often change a wrestler's name, Steveson is already a huge name due to his amateur wrestling success, and the Olympic Gold Medalist told the MMA Hour that he
will compete under his real name. WWE already has a Gable, Chad Gable and the company typical doesn't like anyone sharing a name
hence why Nikki Kross became Nikki ASH mere weeks before Karrion Kross' call up to the main roster last year.
When asked about Chad, also a former Olympian, Steveson said that the two will have to have a talk about names and come to some sort of agreement that benefits both men.
Chad Gable’s real name is Charles Letts, and has previously had a name change to Shorty G, but with Steveson on the cusp of arriving in WWE, the Alpha Academy star may have
to soon undergone another change of name.
Over to AEW, as Paige VanZant recently started her new career for the company, but the former MMA fighter isn’t ready to give up the life she knew just yet.
It’s been confirmed that on July 9th, VanZant will make her return to Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship and will compete in the main event against a yet to be announced opponent.
This show will take place at the historic Alexandra Palace in London, England, and after suffering back to back losses in UFC, VanZant is looking to prove herself in her
in her latest shoot bare knuckle fight
In December 2020, Sting shocked the world when he debuted for AEW, and has proven he can still go in a series of matches over the last 15 months.
A legend of wrestling, Sting has had plenty of trademarks to his name over the years, but he’s now filed a trademark for his unique style of facepaint.
PW Insider reports that the filing was to lock down the Icon’s legendary look for merchandise, and while his look may be influenced by The Crow, Sting is looking to make his look
his own.
More from AEW, as the company has plenty of wrestling couples, including Anna Jay’s relationship with AEW World Tag Team Champion Jungle Boy.
The two announced they were a couple with a photo they shared on social media, and speaking to Women’s Wrestling Talk, Jay said it was actually Jungle Boy’s idea to make
things official via a tweet. That worked out for the best, as Anna Jay said she was surprised that the response to their
relationship was almost all positive, as wrestling fans are on board with this new power couple in All Elite Wrestling.
Back to WWE, as Elias hasn’t been seen on TV in a very long time, and there’s been multiple reports over his absence.
The last fans saw of the former 24/7 Champion was in a video vignette announcing that Elias was dead, teasing that he’ll soon be working as a new character with a new name.
Months have passed without any reference to Elias on TV, and the latest news isn’t good for the singer- songwriter.
On PW Torch, Wade Keller notes that both Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn want to release Elias, but Bruce Prichard is insisting that he stays.
This situation is why Elias has undergone a character change and new vignettes have been aired for him, despite there being no signs of him appearing on TV.
This conflict of interest is doing nothing but hurt Elias’ future prospects, as the longer he goes without appearing, the less interested fans will be in what comes next.
It had been reported that WWE was once close to having the new character sorted but Vince McMahon changed his mind, s aying it was too similar to Macho Man Randy Savage.
Ultimately, Elias will have to keep waiting, either for a return to TV or his release, but what do you think of this situation? Let us know in the comments.
And we’re ending today with news from Paul Wight, who made his debut for AEW around this time last year, after over 22 years as The Big Show in WWE.
Since coming to the company, Wight has had just three matches for the company, and has instead spent most of his time as a commentator and in other roles.
The former WWE World Champion is now looking to get back in the ring, as next week’s Dynamite will air from the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina, Wight’s home town.
On the Rob Brown Show, Wight made his intentions clear for next week, saying:
I can’t exactly go book myself, but I’m trying real hard to get a match going so I can at least wrestle in my hometown in Columbia. I’m looking forward to competing that night.
If not, I’ll definitely be there doing Elevation and doing commentary. Next week will also see both AEW Rampage and AEW Dark:
Elevation be filmed in Colombia, and with Wight’s last match being a handicap win over Arjun Singh, Carlie Bravo and Cole Karter last October, we’ll have to wait and see whether
Tony Khan grants the giant’s request.