NEWS

Not so fast? There have been some big wrestling stories over the course of the week, but perhaps the most surprising has been Cody and Brandi Rhodes leaving AEW. Cody helped found the company and Brandi was an executive, but now both of them are out the door. This has led to some speculation about where they are heading, but we might know a bit more about one of them.
According to Sports Illustrated, Brandi will not be joining Cody in WWE, assuming Cody goes there as well. There is no word on where Brandi will go, or if she will continue to wrestle elsewhere. Brandi served as a ring announcer during her time in WWE, under the name of Eden Stiles, though she never wrestled a match for the company. Cody has been in talks to make a WWE return but nothing has been made official.
Opinion: I’m not sure if this is the biggest surprise, as while Brandi has been in WWE, she was never a character or anything more than a ring announcer. Now that she has become a television character and a wrest..

No more running. AEW does not run the most frequent pay per views and it makes their schedule a bit different. Instead of running a show every month, the company runs four pay per views a year, meaning their shows tend to have some very stacked cards. That is something that AEW knows how to do very well and now they have added a pretty violent match to their next pay per view.
Last week on AEW Dynamite, CM Punk and Jon Moxley teamed up to defeat FTR. As a result of the win, Punk was allowed to pick the specifics of his rematch with Maxwell Jacob Friedman. This week’s Dynamite opened with Punk announcing that the match will take place at Revolution on March 6 and it will be a Dog Collar match. This will be the second Dog Collar match in AEW history after Cody Rhodes defeated Brodie Lee in October 2020.
Opinion: This is the kind of match that could go a long way to making Revolution special, as it is going to be a war between two people who feel like they hate each other You don’t get ..

That doesn’t seem to be the best idea. Wrestling is as unique of a form of entertainment as you can get, as the wrestlers are required to make everything look as real as possible while being as safe as possible. That is a heck of a trick, but there are some wrestlers who can cause some very real damage if they need to. It would not be logical to go after them, but that is what took place recently.
Brock Lesnar appeared on the Pat McAfee Show this week and told a story of how Johnny Knoxville broke down Lesnar’s hotel room door. Lesnar was in St. Louis for the Royal Rumble and had a private room at his hotel. He was told that Knoxville and the cast of Jackass was there as well, so Lesnar sent over a bottle of wine. Soon thereafter, Knoxville broke down Lesnar’s door so Lesnar came outside and put Jackass member Wee Man through a table. According to Lesnar, none of this was planned in advance.
There is a lot here. Check out the full interview:
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They might not be able to do everything. AEW has come a very long way in the three years since their inception. The company has brought in several wrestlers from around the world, developing an interesting roster, which can make for some amazing matches and shows. However, there are some limits to what AEW can do and now you might be noticing some of those limits taking effect soon.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, AEW spends a high amount of money on its roster in order to compete with WWE. This includes names such as Adam Cole, who is making “way more” than he would have made had he signed a new WWE deal, and Bryan Danielson, who is likely making “several” million dollars a year. The company is starting to slow down on some of its major signings, but hopefully they will be able to spend more on some major names when their new television deal comes through in 2024.
Opinion: This is something that had to be an issue at some point, as Tony Khan has a lot of money, but he doesn’t..

It’s not on the cards. We are in the middle of WWE’s busiest season as the company is on the Road to WrestleMania 38. That means there is a lot of work to be done as WWE tries to get ready for their biggest shows of the year. Some of those adjustments involve a lot of work but WWE tends to know how to pull them off. In this case, it means wrapping up a story for a certain visiting legend.
Lita made her return to WWE back at the Royal Rumble in January. The following week on Monday Night Raw, she challenged Becky Lynch for a Raw Women’s Title match at Elimination Chamber, which has since been made official. During an interview with Sports Illustrated, Lita revealed that there are currently no plans for her to continue with WWE after the match. There is still a chance for that to change though.
Opinion: I’m not entirely surprised by this, as I don’t think Lita was exactly a heavy favorite to take the title from Lynch. That doesn’t leave Lita with much to do at WrestleMania or beyond, s..

Welcome back? The biggest wrestling news of the week has been the departure of Cody and Brandi Rhodes from AEW. The move came out of nowhere as Cody is one of the company’s founding fathers. Now that the two have left though, the question becomes where they might be heading next. It seems like we might have an idea and odds are you are not going to be surprised.
According to PWInsider.com, WWE has had discussions with the Rhodes family and the two sides are close to coming to an agreement. While there has been no agreement made, it is expected that Cody could be at the Performance Center as early as this weekend to prepare for a quick return. This has led to excitement backstage in WWE as Cody would be expected to have knowledge of the inner workings of AEW, which could help WWE’s strategy.
In addition, according to Fightful Select, the Rhodes family and AEW may have split over financial issues. The two sides met last week with Cody wanting to sign a “big” money deal but the two side..

That would be a big one. We are less than two months away from WrestleMania 38 and that means WWE is going to need to go all out to sell more tickets. With the two night event taking place at AT&T Stadium, the company has a pair of 100,000 seat shows to sell out. That means they are going to need something huge and a special attraction might be able to help them. It seems they have such a match in mind.
Earlier this week, news broke that WWE was attempting to bring in Steve Austin for a match at WrestleMania 38 but not more details were given. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE is planning on Austin vs. Kevin Owens, which is why Owens has begun cutting promos insulting the state of Texas. Some backstage in WWE are speaking about the match as if it is already booked, though nothing has been confirmed so far. Austin last wrestled in 2003.
Opinion: This is in the category of “I’ll believe it when I see it” as the idea of Austin coming back to the ring at 57 years old is almost h..

Cody Rhodes’ recent departure from All Elite Wrestling was sudden and surprising for many fans. The American Nightmare is a founding father of AEW after all and now, he’s a former Executive Vice President. It’s a surreal moment for the AEW faithful, there is no denying that.
But there’s also no denying that Cody’s next landing spot is likely WWE. While Vince McMahon’s company has not made the signing official as of this writing, the fact is that fans expect it to happen anytime. So assuming Rhodes’ return to WWE is imminent, the question is what’s changed?
pic.twitter.com/iyKVg1nVpm
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) February 15, 2022
Old Wounds When Cody left WWE in 2016, he was frustrated. The Stardust gimmick that he was using wasn’t for everyone and despite Cody’s best efforts, it ultimately wasn’t for him either. He wanted a change and the company didn’t allow that change to happen.
Rhodes’ next few steps after leaving WWE defined his career for the next six years. He became a star ..

NXT
Date: February 15, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness
It’s a big show this week with Vengeance Day. That means the card is stacked, including the finals of the men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and a main event of Bron Breakker defending the NXT Title against Santos Escobar. Other than that, maybe we get a surprise or two as well. Let’s get to it.
The opening video features Toxic Attraction texting each other about tonight’s show. I’m sure one of them being around a pool, one of them being in lingerie and one of them looking at herself in a mirror is just a coincidence.
Pete Dunne vs. Tony D’Angelo In a weaponized steel cage. D’Angelo comes out in a rather expensive car. It’s a brawl to start with D’Angelo being sent into the cage but coming back with a hard slam for a breather. D’Angelo goes for a tool box but Dunne slams the lid onto it instead. Dunne uses a wrench to bend the fingers back, though the fingers ..

It took its time. WWE has a lot of television time to fill, meaning they present all kinds of shows. Some of these are quite prominent and among the biggest shows in the history of wrestling, but some of their others just seem to merely exist. You might not even notice them being gone, and now one of those shows might be doing just that. This time though, we know what is coming in its place.
According to PWInsider.com, WWE is ending 205 Live and replacing it with NXT: Level Up, which will air its first hour long episode this week. There is no word on how the show might differ in content. WWE has been teasing changes to 205 Live for several months now, with a storyline explanation of Joe Gacy saying that the show discriminates against larger wrestlers. The show has also moved away from its original premise and has waived its weight limit since late last year. 205 live debuted in 2016 and originally aired on Tuesdays following SmackDown tapings.
Opinion: This is a change that is long o..

That’s one way of doing things. There have been a lot of wrestlers over the years but only a handful truly stand out above the rest. It could be for one of a few reasons, though one of the easiest is to have someone do something physically impressive. Several wrestlers fit that description, but one of the most physically dominant of all time is still around today. This week, he used that dominance in a different way.
Brock Lesnar appeared on the Pat McAfee Show earlier this week and slammed his hands onto a table, breaking it in the process. McAfee was so stunned by Lesnar destroying the table that he fell to his knees in laughter. Lesnar would fix the table and continue the interview while joking about the quality of the table. Lesnar is scheduled to challenge Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship inside the Elimination Chamber on Saturday.
That table didn’t have a good day. Check out what Lesnar can do to furniture:
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Opinion: I’m never su..

Fare thee well? AEW has only been around for a few years now but the company has made some amazing strides in such a little time. The company has gone from an idea to the second biggest wrestling company in the world. That is not something you see take place very often and a lot of its progress is due to a core group of names. However, some of those names might not be around any longer.
As announced on their Twitter accounts, Cody, the reigning TNT Champion, and Brandi Rhodes have announced that they are leaving AEW. Cody and Brandi have both posted messages thanking several members of the AEW roster and people who work backstage though he does not give a reason for the departure. AEW President Tony Khan has also posted a message thanking them for their time and efforts in the company. According to F4WOnline.com, Cody’s contract with AEW expired in December and he has been a free agent since. There has been discussions about him returning to WWE but nothing has been confirmed.
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