I thought about deleting this post I made a few weeks ago since I forgot about but I decided to just update this section only. Everything else isn’t time-sensitive so it’s cool.
Smackdown’s Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah won the Women’s Tag Team Championship Tournament on the 8/29 edition of RAW. It was the main event match and I watched until it went off the air to see if Sasha Banks and Naomi would make their return once the new champs were crowned. Seeing as it didn’t happen, my guess is it could happen as soon as this coming Friday.
Banks and Naomi are both once again on WWE.com’s Superstar listings as of this weekend amid news they are booked to make their on-screen return anytime now. Boss and Glow Watch is now in effect!
We got confirmation during RAW Theory and Riddle are both getting their first names back.
Theory was Austin Theory until after Wrestlemania 38. Meanwhile, Riddle went had his first name until he won the U.S. Championship early last year. I assume everyone already knows this but superstars having their names shortened was a Vince McMahon policy. I did some digging around and can now confirm with some exceptions, Vince barred superstars from competing with their real name or names from Indie wrestling.
Jon Moxley famously participated in a on-off squash match in WWE almost 10 years before he redebuted as Dean Ambrose. Athena competed in WWE as Ember Moon but reverted to Athena when she signed with AEW. Shayna Baszler, John Cena, Randy Orton, Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar are a few notable superstars who use their real names though with three of them (Baszler, Rousey and Lesnar) they’re famously known from their MMA days.
Riddle’s name was shortened because of the sexual assult accusations that blew up around the time he made his main roster debut. I talked about it at the time two years ago but an online movement dedicated to exposing mysoginists and abusers in the industry turned their attention to Riddle after his accuser turned to them for help. To make a long story short, Riddle had an affair a few years before he signed with WWE. RIddle regretted it and tried to end the affair. She refused to give up and spent the next several years stalking him and his family.
Triple H, who obviously knew about the alliegations at the time RIddle signed with NXT was the one who signed Riddle. He would not have done that–rather, Vince wouldn’t have allowed him to–if he had any reason to believe the accusations were credible. His accuser came forward right when he was making his main roster debut on Smackdown and that got Riddle’s attention. He put out a 2-minute video addressing the matter.
WWE also released written statements indicating they were aware of the accusations when they signed him and since law enforcement deemed the accusations were not credible, they signed him and will be backing him. Vince took away Riddle’s first name because at the time if you Google his full name, mentions of his sexual assult alliegations would be among the first results you see. It was done to protect him to a degree. Now that some time has passed, Riddle is getting his first name back.
On a related note. More hints were dropped Butch reverting to Pete Dunne may be imminent. On Social Media at least, he’s changed his name back. He’s also been releasing stills and short videos of himself from his NXT and NXT UK days. My guess is the changeover will happen either at Clash at the Castle or after it.
News broke over the weekend WWE is in talks with Adam Scherr aka Braun Strowman about a potential return to the company. Strowman was among those released by WWE due to COVID-19 induced budget cuts. He’s been keeping himself busy mostly low-key with some of his bigger exploits shared on social media.
He’s also notably not signed with another promotion or working indie events which is quite interesting given you could easily build a promotion around him. Some wrestling fans don’t like him because of they view his characters as one or two dimensional. Outside wrestling, the guy is awesome. In the ring, he makes you suspend belief no matter what he does. I get those who say you can’t really use him outside top tier matches. That’s actually a compliment and speaks to how good he really is.
I think WWE should bring him back. He could work as a Heel or Face for months. He could be a real interesting addition for The Judgment Day in particular.
Fans were in for quite the shock when a reunited Imperium appeared at Clash at the Castle to say the least. Intercontinental Champion Gunther somehow found the time to bring Giovanni DaVinci (FKA Fabian Aichner) back into the fold.
DaVinci wasn’t the only NXT callup to debut in Cartiff: Solo Sikoa, who is the Usos’ younger brother also made his main roster debut. He pulled the referee out of the ring, creating an opening that allowed his cousin Roman Reigns to retain. The Usos did tease a few months ago there was a general expectation their brother would join their stable at some point and now it is official.
One interesting but not entirely surprising return to WWE was Tyson Fury. The recently retired boxer cold-cocked Austin Theory outta nowhere at Clash at the Castle just as the latter was preparing to cash in his Money in the Bank contract. You may remember he and Braun Strowman had a match three years ago in Saudi Arabia. His return comes amid reports WWE has reached out to Bad Bunny about doing something in the future.
That brings me to Worlds Collide 2022 featuring superstars from NXT and NXT UK as well as some from RAW and Smackdown. All the titles are being unified ahead of NXT UK becoming NXT Europe. Some NXT UK Superstars were or are getting released but most will for sure be retained and will likely appear on NXT for now.
Some NXT UK Superstars are also likely being moved over to RAW or Smackdown. Doudrop FKA Piper Nivens went from NXT UK to RAW last year so the precident is already there. We are also obviously going to see NXT Talent moved on as well to make room. It’s really looking like Legado Del Fantasma is going to make their main roster debut soon so it’s a question of weather it will be RAW or Smackdown. Dominik Mysterio turned on his father in Cartiff so assuming he doesn’t join The Judgement Day, he could join that stable.
Cameron Grimes is also likely on his way to RAW or Smackdown. It feels like now would be the time for him to make that move. Mandy Rose and Bron Breakker both retained at Worlds Collide but we’ll have to wait and see if Tyler Bate or Meiko Satomura stay on NXT or move on to RAW/Smackdown. Diamond Mine may also be breaking up if Rodderick Strong getting ambused in the Parking Lot. We’ll see. On that note. Bobby Fish was just released by AEW and it’s looking like WWE is working to get him back. Could be real interesting!
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