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Not so fast. The Royal Rumble is in less than two weeks and that means we are going to be able to see some of the most important matches of the year in WWE. The show’s namesake matches are going to help set up this year’s WrestleMania 38 and the women’s field has some interesting entrants. One of them, in addition to a recent rumor, had some people speculating about something bigger, but it does not seem likely.
Earlier this week, a rumor broke that WWE was considering bringing in a male wrestler from another promotion, known as opening the Forbidden Door, for the Royal Rumble. Later in the week on SmackDown, WWE presented a look at Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins, which included some shots of Dean Ambrose, who now wrestled in AEW under the name Jon Moxley. However, according to Dave Meltzer, this will not be the case and WWE will not be working with AEW on the show. It should be noted that WrestleVotes never mentioned AEW or Moxley.
Opinion: I don’t think this is the biggest surprise,..

And now, the response. WWE and AEW have been rivals since the latter came into existence three years ago. AEW certainly has caught fire since then, with the company going from barely existing to the second biggest promotion in the world today. Both companies present themselves in different ways, and it seems WWE does not care for AEW’s style. Now it is time for AEW to fight back.
Earlier this week, the Toronto Star published an article comparing the two companies. WWE sent in a statement for the article, criticizing AEW’s violent content while promoting its own family friendly content. The statement included a reference to a No DQ match between Tay Conti/Anna Jay vs. the Bunny/Penelope Ford, in which all four bled. Conti, Jay and the Bunny have all sent out photos on Twitter, showcasing the results of the violence in the match.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ? pic.twitter.com/lAw1cm5oVB
— TAYNARA MELO (@TayConti_) January 15, 2022
? pic.twitter.com/wjGyGOL4eQ
— Anna Jay (@annajay___) Januar..

That would do it. Like him or not, there is no one in the wrestling world as powerful as Vince McMahon. The right or wrong take from McMahon can determine where a wrestler’s career goes and there is little that can be done to chance that. These issues are often for the worse and unfortunately that seems to be the case again with one of the more underused WWE stars.
Earlier today, WWE star Mustafa Ali announced that he was requesting his release from the company, saying that he is unable to deliver the message that he wants to deliver while working for the company. According to Fightful Select, Ali has been ready to return to WWE television since the beginning of December, following one week off for the birth of his third child.
Ali had been expected to return with his New America gimmick, which never made air, though Ali did release an unaired promo on Twitter. Instead, McMahon changed his mind and pitched something Ali never would have done, leading to a “heated argument” between th..

Start making your picks. Tournaments are an easy concept in wrestling, as they are all about a group of entrants being cut down to one. That can come in more than a few forms but most of the time, the process can be a lot of fun. WWE has had its fair share of tournaments over the years and now we know the field for one of its longer running and more fun events.
WWE has released the brackets for the 2022 men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. The annual tournament will begin this week on NXT and features eight teams. As is traditionally the case, the winners will receive a future shot at the Tag Team Titles. There is no word on when the title match will take place or when the finals will be held. Here are this year’s brackets:
MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter)
Jacket Time (Kushida & Ikemen Jiro)
Malik Blade & Edris Enofé
Legado del Fantasma (Joaquin Wilde & Raul Mendoza)
Brooks Jensen & Josh Briggs
The Creed Brothers (Julius & Brutus Creed)
Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drak..

His vision his elsewhere. Earlier today, WWE superstar Mustafa Ali sent a tweet out requesting that he be released from the company.
The tweet featured a short video, with the following message: “I have a message that is much bigger than my dreams in pro wrestling. Despite my best efforts, I will not be able to deliver this message while working with WWE. Therefore, I am requesting my release from WWE.”
i am requesting my release from wwe pic.twitter.com/Q1QP8SA5zV
— Mustafa Ali / Adeel Alam (@AliWWE) January 16, 2022
Ali has had a career of ups and downs in WWE. He has been with the company since 2016, beginning on 205 Live, eventually making his way to the main roster in 2018 as a member of Smackdown. He would eventually become the leader of the stable Retribution in 2020, before feuding with Mansoor in the later part of 2021.
We will continue to monitor this story and provide updates as they become available to us.
Editor’s Opinion:
I honestly don’t blame Mustafa Ali for want..

Acknowledge him. It’s no secret that for several years, Roman Reigns has been a main fixture of WWE programming and has been featured in many prominent storylines. He has made history in several categories, and as of today, has done that one more time.
Today, Sunday, January 16, 2022, marks Reigns’ 504th day as the Universal Champion. This officially makes him him the longest reigning Universal Champion in history. This ran began at the Payback 2020 pay-per-view, when he defeated Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman in a Triple Threat match.
History-making. Record-breaking.@WWERomanReigns is officially the longest-reigning #UniversalChampion at 5??0??4?? days and counting.
Acknowledge the ??. pic.twitter.com/yao4srTPIR
— WWE (@WWE) January 16, 2022
From WWE.com:
This Sunday marked Reigns’ 504th day as the Universal Champion, surpassing Brock Lesnar’s previous record of 503 days from 2017-2018 which came to an end at the hands of none other than The Head of The Table himself.
After maki..

Double payday. The wrestling world has changed quite a bit, as there is now more content available than ever before. One of the biggest reasons for this is the arrival of AEW, which has become the second biggest wrestling promotion in the world in just a few years of existence. The company allows wrestlers another place to go, and that was certainly the case for a specific wrestler this week.
Independent wrestler Leo Sparrow appeared on both WWE Monday Night Raw and AEW Rampage this week. Sparrow wrestled in a loss to Omos on Monday Night Raw and appeared in a music video from the Acclaimed on Rampage. Sparrow shared a photo of both appearances on Twitter. This is not the first time someone has done this, as Kelsey Heather did the same in July 2021.
The #SonOfTheSun was on #WWERAW AND #AEWRampage this week ??? pic.twitter.com/8T6vJ1Dpa3
— Leo Sparrow (@NoSteakAllSizzl) January 15, 2022
Opinion: That is the kind of thing you don’t get to see very often and it must be a thrill for Sp..

I guess they aren’t fans. There are a lot of different ways to present a wrestling match and some of them are a bit more intense. Occasionally you will see a match get a lot more violent than others, which may or may not be a good thing. You will occasionally see bloodshed during a match, which is not everyone’s cup of tea. That was apparent this week.
The Toronto Star has published an article comparing WWE and AEW programming. The article looks at the television ratings for WWE SmackDown and AEW Dynamite, noting that the numbers are getting closer and citing AEW’s edgier content. WWE sent in a statement for the piece, criticizing AEW’s content, particularly the street fight between the Bunny/Penelope Ford and Anna Jay/Tay Conti while promoting its own more family friendly product. Here is WWE’s statement:
“If you look at the gory self-mutilation that bloodied several women in the December 31 event on TNT, it quickly becomes clear that these are very different businesses. We had an e..

That sounds very wrong. Every now and then, you hear about a wrestler doing something that is not going to be very well accepted. Sometimes it is a situation that winds up being an embarrassment, but there are other instances that go all the way into criminal. Unfortunately that was the case earlier this week and now we know a lot more about the incident.
Earlier this week, news broke of WWE legend Tammy Sytch, better known as Sunny, being arrested over terroristic threats. According to TMZ, Sytch threatened to kill a man with a pair of scissors, as seen by a police officer. Sytch was said to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but the man was unharmed in the incident. According to PWInsider.com, Sytch was released from custody on Friday, but is required to make weekly check-ins with the court.
Opinion: I’m not sure what to even say about Sytch these days as it is clear that she needs some kind of serious help as this is not working. It seems that she cannot go very long with..

There’s a guest star. There are a lot of people working for WWE and not all of them are active wrestlers. Some of them are not around very often but still have a place in the company whenever they are needed. However, sometimes you see a WWE star pop up elsewhere, which was the case this weekend in a situation you might not have expected them to be.
This weekend, Zicky Dice’s Outlandish Paradise took place in Canton, Georgia, with Dice vs. Evil Uno serving as the main event. According to Wrestlinginc.com, the show featured a segment between Dice and WWE Hall of Famer Madusa. Dice insulted Madusa, resulting in Madusa bringing up a Twitch video feed of WWE’s Paige. This led to Paige cutting a promo on Uno and telling fans to vote on what kind of match Dice and Uno should have. Uno went on to defeat Dice in a Barely Legal Circus of Evil match.
Paige is still under contract to WWE but rarely makes appearances. She was forced to retire from the ring due to a series of neck injuries and ha..

It was a busy night. We are less than two weeks away from the Royal Rumble and the card has mostly come together. In addition to the show’s two namesake matches, there are some other huge showdowns set for the show. That includes a pair of World Title matches and one of them received some special attention after the cameras stopped rolling this week.
This week’s edition of SmackDown ended with Seth Rollins running away from an attack at the hands of the Usos and Roman Reigns. Following the show going off the air, Reigns and Rollins continued to tease a fight but never got around to it, as the Usos attacked Rollins again. A video of the confrontation has been uploaded to Twitter and according to 411mania.com, a six man tag followed, with Rollins and the Viking Raiders defeating Roman Reigns and the Usos.
It was quite the moment. Check out what happened after SmackDown went off the air:
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Opinion: They are doing a good job of saving the violent..

Stick around for a bit. AEW has not been around for very long but they have made a huge impact on the wrestling business. That is the kind of thing that you do not get to see someone do very often but they have made it work in a short amount of time. The company has been fueled by its talented roster, and now some of them will be sticking around even longer.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, all of the original AEW talent contracts have already expired, meaning that any wrestler who was with the company at its launch in 2019 has signed a new deal had their contract extended by AEW. Several names have already announced signing new deals, including Scorpio Sky and the Young Bucks. There is no word on when any of the new deals will expire, or which wrestlers AEW is not interested in keeping.
It would make sense for AEW to want to keep some of these wrestlers. Check out some of their bigger names:
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