If you watched the April 9 episode of NXT, you’ll notice one glaring omission when no Quarter Catch Crew did their entrance: No Drew Gulak.
For those who might not know, last week Ronda Rousey revealed during an interview that Gulak touched the drawstring on the sweatpants she was wearing backstage a few years ago. Gulak responded the next morning on social media saying the incident did happen, it was no deliberate as they were passing each other and he apologized to her immediately when it happened.
After not hearing anything from Rousey on the matter afterward, he understandably felt the matter was behind them. Now several years later Rousey decides to bring it up. She’s never had a problem speaking her mind to anyone at any time which makes her choosing to sit on this until now very odd. Rousey left WWE last summer after her match with Shayna Baszler at Summer Slam 2023 and thoroughly burned bridges on her way out.
I’m at the point where Rousey, who claims she wants nothing more to do with WWE is hellbent on using her name and influence to ruin a lot of people’s careers and reputations in WWE. As for what’ll happen to Gulak. He’s been pulled off TV while WWE conducts an investigation. Apparently, there were witnessess to that incident so those people will need to be interviewed. TKO will likely be directly involved as well.
As of April 16 it’s been confirmed Drew Gulak is permanently off TV and is expected to be released by WWE if he hasn’t been already. Apparently those who witnessed the incident could not recall with certainty what exactly happened–the passage of time being the obvious reason why–which means Gulak is being randomly fired by a former employee who WWE and TKO already knows is being spiteful.
Hopefully Gulak finds a good attorney and sues her because he should at this point. She literally got him fired out of spite toward WWE.
Speaking of Ronda Rousey. Remember a month before Wrestlemania 35 when she disrespected the industry she’d barely been in a year by saying “Wrestling is fake” back in 2019? A few days after Wrestlemania XL, Rousey is now saying “Wrestling isn’t a real physical sport”.
Ask any other professional athlete who’s briefly crossed into professional wrestling from Tyson Fury to Floyd Mayweather and they’ll tell you different. As a reminder, the reason Rousey’s UFC career ended when and how it did was because she was knocked the fuck out by Holly Holm in 2015 and couldn’t get over it. Rousey would then have a return match with Amanda “The Lioness” Nunes a year later.
Nunes can forever say she retired Ronda Rousey from UFC and she did it in 48 seconds:
Not long after that and feeling embarassed (again), Rousey would make her WWE debut after the inaugural Women’s Royal Rumble march. After being in Wrestlemania 35’s main event, Rousey would disappear for almost two years. Initially it was because of a legit injury but then she admitted she didn’t work to work a full-time schedule. Then she got pregnant during the pandemic which meant she’d be out longer.
By the time Rousey randomly came back to WWE in 2022, no one gave a shit. A year later, she would have her final match in WWE at Summer Slam 2023 where her longtime friend Shayna “The Queen of Spades” Baszler beat her in an “MMA Rules” Match. She’s been talking shit about WWE ever since.
The funny thing is she randomly showed up on Ring of Honor near the end of 2023 which prettymuch makes her a hypocrite with her recent comments. I don’t see how anyone in that locker room would be willing to put up with her any more than the WWE locker room did in 2019.
Rousey is also claiming she hid her history of concussions and her family’s history of Dementia from both UFC and WWE. Based on that alone, I think her UFC Hallf of Fame induction should be revoked immediately. It also makes you wonder what else Rousey likely kept from UFC in particular that they probably should have been aware of. TKO is the parent company of both UFC and WWE on that note.
I’m hoping they open an investigation into her claims if they haven’t already. I don’t think this is the kind of thing UFC in particular can afford to ignore. More so given all the money and publicity she brought to the company. If it is true, Rousey’s Hall of Fame induction should be vacated at the very least.
WWE’s being smart in not commenting on what she’s saying because that could backfire even though she’s just talking shit. Plus they know she’ll be begging for a job at some point in the near future. WWE was willing to take back CM Punk after 9 years so the precident is already there and…yeah.
During CM Punk’s interview with Kayla Braxton before the WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony, a certain familiar former WWE Superstar noticably wanders into the camera in the background on the left for a moment. Keith Lee, who is now with AEW attended the WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony.
For those who might not know, he is the husband of current WWE superstar Mia Yim. They dated while they were both in NXT and got married after they were both released in 2020 during the Pandemic. Lee later signed with AEW while Yim was resigned by WWE. “He Who Shall Not Be Named” imfamously told Lee during his long absence in 2020 to lose some weight. Lee claims he believes that is one of the reasons he was released by WWE.
His wife being rehired by WWE aside, it’s obvious Lee has no hard feelings towards the company that made him famous. One thing we can say for sure is unlike with WWE when Sting had his retirement match last month, clearly AEW didn’t tell anyone who went to Wrestlemania weekend they can’t be seen on camera!
We finally got some answers on one notable absence who’d been rumored to possibly make an appearance during Wrestlemania weekend.
About two weeks ago it was reported John Cena, The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin were all approached by WWE about doing something during Wrestlemania weekend. Cena and ‘Taker both got physically involved during the Rhodes/Reigns match but Austin was nowhere to be seen.
We now know the reason Austin was not there. Apparently, he and WWE couldn’t come to a financial agreement for his appearance so ‘Taker was used in his place. ‘Taker was already there for the WWE Hall of Fame so he had a good reason to stick around in Philly for two more days.
On the latest episode of his podcast (Six Feet Under with Mark Calaway), ‘Taker found out he would be a part of WM40 after the show went live. There’s footage of him being hustled backstage with a security detail after he chokeslammed The Rock meaning the sequence was not rehersed.
Commenting on the moment, ‘Taker said he now feels “satisfied” about being retired. The last time he was involved in a Wrestlemania match, it was pretaped with no fans in attendance. He was also the last person involved in WM36 who hadn’t performed at Wrestlemania in front of a crowd since then so there’s that too.
Speaking of AEW.
This time, Cody Rhodes’ mother was at Wrestlemania to see her son in the main event match. She also wasn’t the only member of the Rhodes family who was there. Images surfaced online showing Cody’s brother Dustin Rhodes–he worked as Goldust in WWE for those who might not know–and AEW Superstar Sammy Guavara were also present to see Cody beat Roman Reigns.
Dustin as well as Cody’s mom were unable to attend Wrestlemania 39 in person since the wedding of Dustin’s daughter Dakota was the same weekend last year. Dustin and Cody have the same father but different mothers. Cody and their two sisters have the same mother as well. The funny thing about The Rock’s promo in whicvh he called Cody a mistake is he was really talking about Dustin who was born from Dusty Rhodes’ first marriage. Cody was the third of the three children Dusty would have with his second wife.
Dustin was estranged from his father around the time he broke into the business. It’s one of the reasons why he stopped using the “Rhodes” name when we left NWA for WWE. Another reason is his father’s in-ring history with WWE which his brother Cody made right. He wrestled as Goldust in WWE for almost 20 years. By the time his brother Cody Broke into the business in the mid-2000s, Dustin and his father had made up.
Dustin challenged current AEW Champion Samoa Joe for the title in the April 10 episode of AEW Dynamite but unlike his brother, he came up short. He did get an assist from Swerve in the opening moments of Dynamite and again after the match though. Responding to a Tweet the next morning someone wrote asking him to leave AEW, Dustin responded to it saying “Nah! I love it here.” Of course he was gonna publicly say that. I doubt he loves it there anymore but I don’t see him leaving AEW until he retires or AEW folds, whichever happens first. Hopefully the latter of course.
Dustin has said he wants to become a World Champion before he retires and with his loss to Samoa Joe, he might have one more chance if he goes to ROH which is owned by AEW. If that doesn’t work out then it’s a matter of weather he’d be ok with retiring with that dream unfulfilled…or if he would be willing to leave AEW to make it happen like his brother did two years ago.
I don’t see Dustin leaving AEW until he retires mostly because of the current state of the company. With his brother having returned to WWE and now become its top champion, he probably feels like he can’t leave now. He left WWE to help his brother in AEW after all. I don’t see a problem with him finishing his career in AEW personally. He can do what he wants. I wouldn’t consider him a hypocrite if he returned to WWE either.
Sometime Sunday evening, AEW’s Young Bucks announced they would publicly release the backstage footage from last year’s All In at this week’s Dynamite. I mean the footage involving CM Punk and Jack Perry. Punk was fired by AEW over that and Perry, who is still under contract with AEW is literally trying to get himself out of AEW.
On Tuesday, Tony Khan doubled down on the announcement saying the footage release will happen and AEW means what it says. He also said CM Punk’s comments on Monday in an interview was “interesting timing”. CM Punk made his WWE return at the very end of last year’s Survivor Series. Although he has largely not publicly commented on “the incident” since his return to WWE, it hasn’t both him and other WWE Superstars from indirectly referencing his time with AEW in promos.
That brings me to a pair of tweets that hit Xitter Wednesday morning. Grayson Waller parodied AEW’s announcement by saying he will soon release locker room footage of himself and his tag team partner Austin Theory taking out the entire Smackdown locker room. Dijak responded an hour later backing Waller up saying. “I’ve seen it. There was glass everywhere.” Of course it’s just making fun of AEW’s dysfunction. Harmless fun on their part.
Former WCW Commentator and current AEW Commentator Tony Schiavone’s reaction to the footage release on the April 10 episode of AEW Dynamite tells the story and he would know. He spoke the imfamous original Fingerpoke of Doom back in 1999.
Well, the “footage” aired as promised. Nothing new was revealed that wasn’t already publicly known or disclosed. Although CM Punk isn’t mentioned by name–the Young Bucks referred to him as “this individual”–it’s obviously him despite his face being blurred out. What was airing this footage even for? Cutting a promo on FTR and Jack Perry. No, really.
What’s even crazier is apparently AEW is now trying to put the genie back in the bottle with the footage having now flooded social media. Shawn Spears, who left AEW earlier this year and returned to WWE posted a GIF basically saying this stunt backfired on AEW. He’s right about that and then some.
CM Punk’s reaction to the segment?
All I can really say is this is the beginning of the end of AEW. No, really.
This stunt sends a chilling message to everyone on the roster of what to exect if they get on Tony Khan or The Young Bucks’ shit list like Punk and Perry did. It backfired on making Punk look bad but may have completely destroyed any hope Perry may have had of having a wrestling career after AEW. Everything CM Punk said about what happened went down verbatim exactly the way he said it did.
I’ll put it like this: CM Punk has now appeared on Wrestlemania, RAW and now AEW Dynamite within 4 days of each other (Sunday, Monday and Wednesday). When the footage was played on Dynamite and again when the Young Bucks later came out to attack FTR, the crowd shouted “CM PUNK!”. That’s not a good look for AEW or Tony Khan. Just saying.
For those who might not know or remember who she is, that’s Renee Parquette. She worked in WWE for almost 10 years (As Renee Young) in various on-screen roles. She also met her husband Jon Moxley in WWE though he left almost two years before she did for AEW. After she left WWE, she eventually followed her husband to AEW.
Fast forward to the April 10 episode of AEW Dynamite and the above screenshot. For those who might not know. Renee is legit friends with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. She has had to hear the “You’re only where you are now because of guy you’re with” line herself for almost 10 years. Why someone in AEW thought putting her in this position was a good idea I’ll never understand but she clearly looks VERY uncomfortable in that moment.
It’s been said since 2018, most ex-WWE guys generally don’t engage in bashing WWE via promos. This is largely because they still have friends, family or spouses there. Kevin Nash indicated it was a bit of an unwritten rule among most ex-WWE guys who went to WCW to not bash WWE in promos mostly out of respect.
After a while, there comes a point when you have to say “I can’t be a part of this anymore” and walk away. Hopefully April 10 was the breaking point for some people.
…That brings me to this.
It’s becoming something of a trend since CM Punk left AEW that’s impossible to ignore anymore: They’re having serious trouble filling arenas compared to WWE.
Mind you, the first picture is clearly from Smackdown. The second is from Dynamite. WWE has no problem selling out anywhere. It’s why we now have countries bidding to host WWE PLEs.
I don’t care what anyone says, AEW’s days are numbered. WCW’s death was slow but it did eventually happen. I know these things have been said since 2018 and people are not wrong to keep saying it. It doesn’t matter how much money you pump into it, eventually the networks gonna pull the plug.
All the AEW talent publicly saying they (still) love the company are simply saying what they’re supposed to. That doesn’t mean they’re ignorant of what’s going on.
THIS is a wide shot of the RAW after Wrestlemania:
WWE sells out venues like it’s nothing. The reason for the new smaller stage presentation for RAW and Smackdown is so WWE can sell more tickets on that note. That’s a VERY GOOD problem to have.
AEW? They can barely sell 3,000 tickets for a house show these days nevermind a PLE, Dynamite or Rampage. That’s a VERY bad sign. It tells venues that AEW can’t draw people to their events. Low ticket sales mean low profits which means the promotion isn’t very profitable.
I know Tony Khan has said he’s not looking to make money but running a wrestling promotion costs money. A lot of money.
AJ Styles revealed in a recent interview just before Wrestlemania that the end of his career spanning TNA/Impact, NJPW and WWE is fast approaching.
The 46 year old industry veteran revealed his body is in constant pain from the moment he wakes up. Real name Allen James, the veteran wrestler has four kids. He has noticably been out much longer than in the past with injuries which is a sign age and the grind have been taking as much of a toll as injuries.
He has indicated he probably has one more year at most left in him but wants one more title run before he calls it a career. Right now, he’s set to face LA Knight in a Wrestlemania rematch on Smackdown next week but this time a shot at Cody Rhodes and the Undisputed Universal Championship at Backlash is on the line. It’s worth noting AJ Styles did share the ring with Dusty Rhodes in TNA back in 2007. It would be quite the match if things work out that way to say the least.
That aside. The big question is who gets the honor of retiring him. Roman Reigns was the first person he faced when AJ Styles debuted in the 2015 Royal Rumble Match. It would be fitting to give him that honor given their history. Someone from NXT would benefit the most obviously though so we’ll see.
What do Charlotte Flair, Shayna Baszler and Roxanne Perez all hame in common? They are the only women ever to be 2-time NXT Women’s Champions. Even better is all three of them are still in WWE now.
Bianca Belair actually moved on from NXT without actually winning the NXT Women’s Championship but Charlotte and Becky Lynch did set the precident of main roster talent winning the NXT Women’s Championship. I could see her going back to Florida to get the one title she hasn’t won yet…and possibly also the new Women’s North American Championship which was recently announced.
Speaking of Women’s Midcard titles. The question that will continue to be asked is when will we see a Women’s Intercontinental Championship? With the amount of talent on RAW/Smackdown, the time is now to make it happen.
News broke Thursday afternoon second that generation AEW superstar Hook is planning to explore free agency when his current contract expires. Hook is the son of former ECW/WWE Superstar and current AEW commentator Tazz. Yes, THAT Tazz.
Hook’s name was imfamously invoked by Jinder Mahal in January via Twitter in a tweet that went viral but was quickly deleted in which he said “Who the fuck is HOOK?” Hook referenced the viral tweet in the promo he cut on the following episode of Dynamite. Tazz was understandably triggered by Jinder’s tweet but apparently Hook thought it was funny and laughed it off.
…Did I forget to mention that WWE is planning to go after him as soon as his contract expires? Assuming they do get him, he’d make a huge splash in NXT. It would also be real interesting to see him in the ring with Jinder Mahal if that ends up happening. Hopefully he brings Sammy Guavara with him.
Most people know this already but that is what Drew McIntyre was doing in the middle of his match with Seth Rollins on Wrestlemania Sunday. Two hours later, he retweeted it with the word “Fuck” in reaction to getting cashed in on by Damien Priest almost 6 minutes after winning the match. The very next morning, McIntyre’s Slammy Award would be stolen by a disgruntled Chelsea Green right when he finished his acceptance speech.
About a week later, McIntyre announced he will not stop roasting people on Social Media despite what happened. Feel free to follow him on Twitter and Instagram. You will not be disappointed.
Rey Mysterio recently shared what he really thinks of people who take pictures of him unmasked online. In short, he said he doesn’t mind.
Many longtime wrestling fans were surprised to see him recently appearing in videos and photos online without his mask. I view it as a sign his final match probably isn’t that far off.
Right after Wrestlemania weekend, Nick Khan announced WWE was pursuing working with other wrestling promotions on some things. His announcement came amid the blockbuster news Giulia, one of the biggest stars in Japan signed with WWE that weekend. A few weeks later we would find out Marigold, a new promotion being founded in Japan is interested in getting Kairi Sane and Iyo Sky from WWE to come to Japan to work select matches.
It’s worth pointing out during her transition to NXT, Guilia will also be helping to establish Marigold in the interim. Getting Kairi Sane and Iyo Sky on loan from WWE would help build some credability for Marigold and at same time allow WWE to tap into the Japanese market in ways it hadn’t before.
Moving on. A few months after her appearance in the Women’s Royal Rumble match, current TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace called out WWE vet Natalya on social media, challenging her to a match…in TNA. Natalya responded to her in kind saying she’s open to doing that once the details are figured out by their respective promotions. It’ll likely happen in the coming months if I had to wager a guess.
What’s interesting is if Natalya becomes NXT Champion before that match happens, we will see a Champion vs. Champion match when she goes to TNA to take on Grace. I know Champion vs. Champion matches became a regular thing at Survivor Series until two years ago but I don’t see WWE and TNA waiting that long to make this match happen. When the match happens, it’ll be hyped by both companies for sure though.
Big E provided two big updates mid-weekend, one of which all but confirms his in-ring career is over.
As most people who’ve followed his story over the years is likely already aware of, the former WWE Champion stuffered a broken neck during a match with Ridge Holland on Smackdown two years ago. Thankfully, the break was not fatal and did not cause damage to his spinal cord. In a recent Twitter post he revealed although he is no longer in any pain, there is no new bone which means one bad bump could be fatal. He took it a step further and plainly said he doesn’t expect to ever be cleared because of this.
That brings me to the other big update Big E shared online this past weekend. He revealed in several heartwarming posts he and Mia Yim’s real life sister Kris are a couple. They’ve likely been dating for a while but it makes sense for him to wait until now to publicly reveal their relationship. I mentioned this earlier but Mia Yim is the wife of former WWE Superstar Keith Lee. They started dating when they were both in NXT and were introduced to each other by former WWE Superstar Shelton Benjamin. They got married shortly after Keith Lee moved to RAW. It’s likely Yim was the one who introduced Big E to her sister.
It’s interesting to note a few months before he became WWE Champion, Big E revealed on The New Day podcast that he changed his mind about never having kids. With his career in WWE now changing due to his injury, he’s now free to get started on that if he wants to. We will just have to wait and see if that happens sooner than later, hopefully sooner!
As of the April 19 episode of Smackdown, only the U.S. Championship has not undergone a recent redesign. All the other current championships have undergone a redesign and rebranding over the last 12 months. No longer are there “RAW” and “Smackdown” titles for that matter. That also means no more title swaps when tag champions and women’s champions change brands. It’s no longer necessary.
Now that it has changed hands after four years, the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship has also been officially renamed to just the Undisputed WWE Championship on that note. Contrary to what I thought, it was called the Universal Championship as a nod to the WWE Universe. In other words, it was “The People’s Championship” which is funny given The Rock was gifted The People’s Championship title at the Hall of Fame ceremony a few weeks ago. I thought Universal Championship was named for NBC Universal which is USA Network’s parent company. Of course, almost half the time that title existed the holder was on Smackdown (Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns).
With the Women’s World Championship currently vacant, a new champion will be crowned on April 22 ahead of the draft which tells me whoever wins it will either be a Smackdown superstar or someone who will be going to Smackdown. The Women’s Champions usually change brands every year so…yeah.
This post went on for much longer than I planned mostly because I had to update a few areas. It’s now April 21.
The WWE Draft begins this coming Friday and will continue the following Monday. As before, the more interesting draft picks will be the additional draft picks that typically get announced after the show goes off the air. The top stars including the current title holders are typically drafted within the first two rounds so…yeah.
Oh and NXT will be a part of the draft for the first time ever this year. We won’t just see people drafted to RAW/Smackdown from NXT but select RAW/Smackdown Superstars drafted to NXT. We’ll have to wait and see who goes where at this point.
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