Big Plans for Stone Cold at WrestleMania
After news last week surfaced that The Rock would not be available for WrestleMania this year, a new WWE Hall of Famer's name has popped up, perhaps the greatest WWE performer of all time, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
Rumors of Austin's participation in this year's WrestleMania began last November when Austin started posting videos getting into incredible shape on social media. The posts have persisted and now two new bits of information have surfaced.
Sean Ross Sapp at Fightful was the first to report that a big pitch was made for Austin to take on Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. It is not known if the match is locked on, but with the Rock not available, it seems like the best option at the time.
Dave Meltzer refuted the report on Wrestling Observer Radio last night, saying the match Austin was planned for was not Reigns, but Lesnar. “The match that was pitched was not Roman Reigns,” Meltzer said. “It was Brock Lesnar. It’s not on, something can happen now. It’s been talked about probably for months.” After last night's episode of Raw, it seems that Lesnar's direction for WrestleMania is a rubber match with fellow behemoth Bobby Lashley.
Sapp doubled down saying that likely both matches were pitched. Meltzer noted that ultimately the direction for Reigns will be made abundantly clear at the Royal Rumble this Saturday.
What happened at RAW XXX?
Last night was the Raw 30th-anniversary celebration and there were some fun reunions and moments that happened last night. The show started with the trial of Sami Zayn, and while how they got here and Heyman suddenly being against Zayn doesn't quite make sense, this was still a very fun segment:
The most notable return was perhaps the "American Badass" version of The Undertaker. I thought it was very smart to use the Undertaker to put over the Bray Wyatt vs. L.A. Knight match.
Kurt Angle goofing off with DX was fun too:
The big conclusion to the show was the return of Brock Lesnar, attacking Bobby Lashley and once again costing him the U.S. Title. I am guessing these two go at it in the Rumble as well.
What's on TV this week?
It's a big week to be a pro wrestling fan. NXT is on tonight at 8pm on USA with this card:
- NXT Women’s Tag Team titles: Katana Chance and Kayden Carter (c) vs. Alba Fyre
- Tiffany Stratton vs. Indi Hartwell
- Elektra Lopez vs. Wendy Choo
- Thea Hail award ceremony
- Vengeance Day Women’s Championship Summit
AEW Dynamite is tomorrow at 8pm on TBS, while not as massive as some of their recent cards, the show still has a strong lineup:
- TNT title match: Darby Allin (c) vs. Buddy Matthews
- Bryan Danielson vs. Brian Cage
- Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara vs. Ricky Starks & Action Andretti
- Britt Baker vs. Ruby Soho vs. Toni Storm
- Ethan Page and Matt Hardy vs. Jungle Boy Jack Perry and Hook
- Family therapy with The Gunns/The Acclaimed
Impact on Thursday at 8pm on AXS has some fun matches:
- Golden Six Shooter match for an Impact World title shot: Moose vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Callihan vs. Rich Swann vs. Rhino vs. Chris Sabin
- Major Players (Matt Cardona & Brian Myers) vs. Bullet Club (Ace Austin & Chris Bey)
- X-Division Champion Trey Miguel defends against Mike Jackson
- KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight vs. The Good Hands
- Knockouts Tag Team Champions The Death Dollz (Taya Valkyrie & Jessicka) defend against Gisele Shaw & a mystery partner
- Jonathan Gresham vs. Sheldon Jean
WWE Smackdown is the final show before the Rumble, this Friday at 8pm on Fox:
- Rey Mysterio vs. Karrion Kross
- SmackDown Tag title contender's tournament semifinals: Drew McIntyre & Sheamus vs. Hit Row (Top Dolla & Ashante Adonis)
- SmackDown Tag title contender's tournament semifinals: Legado Del Fantasma (Cruz Del Toro & Joaquin Wilde) vs. Imperium (Giovanni Vinci & Ludwig Kaiser)
AEW Rampage is Friday at 10pm on TNT. No matches have been announced yet.
The WWE Royal Rumble is this Saturday at 8pm, streaming on Peacock. I'll have a full preview in my next column.
Wrestling News from Around the Internet
The latest word from Warner Bros Discovery is that even Mark Briscoe solo is not allowed on AEW programming. The Briscoes were originally banned based on homophobic comments Jay Briscoe made over a decade ago, that he had since apologized for multiple times.
Jay Briscoe's daughters are thankfully recovering well after the car accident that took their father's life. Gracie, 12, has her strength improving, and she has been able to use a wheelchair. Jayleigh, 9, is no longer required to feed through a tube and can eat anything she wants. Both girls have a long road ahead of them, but the progress is positive. You can see the full update from a family friend here.
ROH released a new Jay Briscoe t-shirt, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Pugh family.
Warner executives had glowing things to say about AEW in a recent article about their new series, Slapfight, that airs after Dynamite and tanked in the ratings. Kathleen Finch, the Chairman, and Chief Content Office for Warner Bros Discovery U.S Networks group noted they greenlit the show in the hopes that wrestling fans would tune in. (They didn't!) But then she praised AEW and said she was learning about the product: "This may surprise you to know that I did not know much about wrestling before I took this job. I know, I seem like a wrestling fan, but I’m not. But I did have to learn a lot about the audience. A lot of families that watch
The Bella Twins were not happy with their scripting during RAW XXX and decided to leave the taping. They took to Twitter to complain about the lack of the women's evolution on the show, noting that producers didn't want to put Sasha Banks and Saraya in video packages. A copy of their rant can be seen here.
Darby Allin revealed he filmed a pilot for a new TV show, likely a reality show following his life around.
John Cena is the cover star of the new WWE2k video game. Here's the trailer, also featuring Bad Buddy and Logan Paul, who will be playable characters:
There was a really wild angle in Japan to set up a match between the world champions of the two biggest promotions, IWGP World Champ Kazuchika Okada and GHC World Champ, Kaito Kiyomiya (the guy who enters the ring). The two will square off next month in a super card for Keiji Mutoh (aka The Great Muta)'s final match. Full card here.
Do you enjoy pro wrestling? Knotfest Wrestling has a bi-weekly column filled with wrestling news. Read previous editions of this column here. You can always follow me @robinjection on Instagram and Twitter and @Squaredcirclpit.
