The big angle on this week’s episode of Dynamite was Satnam Singh debuting by attacking Samoa Joe after he’d defeated Minoru Suzuki. However, some fans on social media weren’t impressed about AEW introducing Singh by having the lights go out. This was because many believed a big-name star was set to appear, so they were instantly disappointed seeing the former basketball player. Now, while speaking on Busted Open, Tony Khan has addressed this criticism and acknowledged that the debut could have been better. Additionally, revealing the idea was proposed to him by someone with 30 years of experience, and he failed to look at the negatives.

While it’s regrettable for someone who is clearly going to be given every opportunity to be a star to debut in such a flat matter, it is good to see Khan being so open to fan criticism. Of course, if Singh ends up being capable in the ring, then his introduction will be overlooked. Nevertheless, history has shown us through the likes of Giant Gonzalez, Raja Lion, and The Great Khali that being a giant doesn’t typically correlate with being a good worker. Therefore, both Singh and Khan have their work cut out to win over AEW fans, who typically expect a higher level of in-ring work than in WWE.

Toni Storm recently made headlines after opening an account on OnlyFans, and reportedly earned $10,000 in the first two hours, thanks to eager fans clamoring to subscribe. Now, as part of Carton & Roberts WAG Wednesday, the AEW star has spoken about the content she shares with subscribers and clarified that she doesn’t share explicit content. However, she would add that she doesn’t feel there is anything wrong with those who provide that type of material.

While it is believed Storm is making significant money from sharing her photos on the site, her main priority is still wrestling. And the New Zealand recently debuted for All Elite Wrestling as part of the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament on March 30th. Having defeated The Bunny, she is now set to face Jamie Hayter in the quarter-finals, and given how fans reacted to her arrival, it’s very likely she’ll be appearing in the final at Double or Nothing on May 29th.

Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson, collectively known as The Good Brothers, made their Impact Wrestling debuts at its Slammiversary pay-per-view in July 2020. And since then, they have been heavily featured and twice held the Impact Tag Team Championships. However, despite that success, many fans best remember them over the past two years for their time alongside Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks in AEW, thanks to AEW and Impact having a working relationship.

Now following multiple sources reporting that both men’s contracts are set to expire in a few months, speculation has commenced that they could be headed back to AEW. Yet, during an interview with Lucha Libre Online, Anderson has revealed they’re loyal to Impact Wrestling and specifically Scott D’Amore, who brought them in when WWE released them.

It’s well known that Tony Khan wanted the duo to be part of Dynamite’s debut episode. Nevertheless, WWE offered them such a vast amount of money that they felt they couldn’t turn it down. Ultimately that was a bad decision, as when WWE wanted to make budget cuts, Paul Heyman suggested they be let go due to their $750,000 salaries. With AEW at the time no longer being interested and travel restrictions preventing them from returning to New Japan, this left them without a home promotion and regular income. Clearly, both men recognize this and how D’Amore and Impact Wrestling was there for them. Therefore based on these comments, it will be fascinating to see whether they re-sign or their loyalty can be bought by someone else.

Last month it was discovered that former WWE star Cesaro, whose real name is Claudio Castagnoli, had applied to trademark “CSRO” under multiple classes that covered usage in pro wrestling. Thus it was speculated he was planning on using that as his ring name in the future, as “Cesaro” is WWE’s intellectual property. Now though, it seems it will only be part of his ring name as he has updated his Instagram handle to “Claudio CSRO,” combining his real name and a shortened version of his WWE name.

Cesaro departed WWE on February 24th, 2022, after 11 years with the promotion, having opted not to sign a new contract. And with him having no non-compete clause, he is free to join any promotion at any time. Still, with Tony Khan having previously spoken highly of him, many anticipate him turning up in AEW or even ROH, given his history with the recently purchased company. But, of course, given his talent both Impact Wrestling and New Japan likely see him as a perfect fit for them, so there definitely won’t be a shortage of suitors for the 41-year-old.

Recently Pete Dunne was renamed Butch, Austin Theory simply became Theory, and Raquel Gonzalez’s surname was changed to Rodriguez. And while WWE changing names isn’t unusual, the latest issue of his Wrestling Observer Newsletter has provided some more insight regarding this. Specifically revealing that a memo was circulated informing talents that Vince McMahon doesn’t want wrestlers to use any part of their real name or names they’ve previously used on the indies.

Obviously, this won’t apply to established stars or those famous away from pro wrestling like Gable Steveson. But if NXT talents like Roderick Strong and Joe Gacy make it to the main roster, it appears they’ll be renamed. And while this isn’t great for the wrestlers as their identity ends up being owned by WWE, it does make sense from WWE’s perspective as they don’t want to create stars that can go to AEW under that name. And considering Keith Lee, Mercedes Martinez, Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly are all currently part of AEW with names they used in NXT could certainly have influenced McMahon’s decision.

During this week’s episode of Dynamite, former Dallas Mavericks draft pick Satnam Singh made his wrestling debut when he attacked Samoa Joe due to being aligned with Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt. Since then, fans on social media have somewhat unfavorably been comparing 7 ft 2 Indian to The Great Khali and Giant Gonzalez and wondering why AEW would be booking someone so inexperienced on television. However, wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, who is known for being in contact with Tony Khan, has reported the decision comes from the promotion wanting to book a prominent angle for Discovery-owned channel Eurosport India after Discovery and WarnerMedia merged.

The Indian market has long been known as an underutilized market for wrestling promotions. And WWE has previously said that the country is its biggest market globally in terms of television viewership, claiming 350 million unique viewers annually. Additionally, merchandise sales are said to be significant, with wrestling being only second to cricket in terms of popularity. The issue has always been monetizing, but the fans are there in numbers for WWE, and clearly, AEW wants to take a share with their own star.

Whether Singh is the right person for the spot remains to be seen. But he is getting the opportunity due to being a major star in the country due to being the first Indian drafted to the NBA, despite not actually playing in the league. Singh initially looked to get into professional wrestling back in 2017 and worked out at the WWE Performance Center but would continue playing basketball. He then signed for AEW on September 23, 2021, in what could turn out to be a major coup, and has been in training since then.

Brock Lesnar lost the WWE Championship at WrestleMania earlier this month, and while no official plans for him have been announced, it seemed likely he’d appear at WrestleMania Backlash due to him featuring on the event’s poster. Now though, Lesnar is no longer listed on WWE.com as appearing, and the event poster has been changed to just feature Edge. This obviously doesn’t guarantee Lesnar won’t be in attendance, but it seems unlikely WWE would remove one of their biggest stars if he was going to be there, especially as the event is far from sold out.

It is still believed that Lesnar will appear at Money In The Bank in July, which takes place at the massive Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders. And considering the venue can hold 70,000 fans, WWE may want to hold Lesnar back for that rather than diluting his significance by wrestling at WrestleMania Backlash. Plus, since Lesnar only wrestles a limited number of dates per year, the company may want to use him more at the back end of 2022.

So far, WrestleMania Backlash only has two matches announced, with the event taking place on May 8th. Those are a rematch between Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins, plus an I Quit match with Ronda Rousey challenging Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Yet, based on television, Bianca Belair will presumably defend the Raw Women’s Championship against Sonya Deville, The Uso’s and RK-Bro should compete to unify the tag championships, and Omos, who is now aligned with MVP, could face Bobby Lashley.

Dark Side of the Ring is built around covering controversial topics, but none caused as much backlash as the episode detailing the infamous Plane Ride From Hell in 2002. As in the hours following its broadcast, fans were calling for Ric Flair and Tommy Dreamer to be canceled based on accusations made against Flair and insensitive comments made by Dreamer. Now Jim Ross, who was heavily featured in the episode due to being WWE’s Head of Talent Relations, has revealed he likely won’t appear in future episodes during his Grilling JR podcast.

Ross has previously apologized to anyone offended by his participation in the episode, and while he has also been featured discussing other topics, this will likely be the episode he is most remembered for. Given this, it is certainly understandable why Ross has doubts about appearing on the show from now on. Hopefully, though, other wrestling personalities won’t feel the same as the docuseries is one of the most intriguing and informative shows covering the pro wrestling industry.

Two months it was reported that lifelong WWE fan, Rok-C, whose real name is Carla Gonzalez, had been offered a contract by the company, which she’d officially sign the following month. Now, wasting no time, WWE has fast-tracked the former ROH Women’s Champion onto their NXT roster with her making her debut during their Level Up tapings on Tuesday night. Going by the ring name Roxanne Perez, she would defeat Sloane Jacobs, seemingly showing the company has high hopes for the 20-year-old.

Rok-C started training at just 13 years of age and began wrestling professional matches on the Texas independent scene in 2018. She would soon become recognized for her potential, and after working for Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling, she’d go on to sign with Ring of Honor and win their championship, successfully defending it on multiple occasions. However, when the company went on hiatus and released all talents from their contracts, she was a free agent and briefly worked for both Impact Wrestling and MLW. 

On February 28th, former UFC fighter and WWE wrestler Cain Velasquez was arrested after shooting the stepfather of 43-year-old Harry Eugene Goularte, the man accused of committing an indecent act on his son. It’s believed that Velasquez had followed and then rammed the car carrying Goularte and opened fire on him, his stepfather, and his mother indiscriminately in an attempt to get his own justice.

Now, ahead of his plea hearing Velasquez has issued a statement via Twitter. In this, he thanks everyone who expressed support and urges the other alleged victims of Goularte to come forward.

Velasquez has been charged with first degree attempted murder, shooting at an occupied motor vehicle or aircraft, three counts of assault with a firearm, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, willfully discharging a firearm from a vehicle, and carrying a loaded firearm with intent to commit a felony. If convicted, the star faces at least 20 years in prison.

Austin Theory was recently a massive part of WrestleMania and, as part of Raw looks set to reach the top of WWE. However, despite having already been established under that name, the 24-year-old would say during Raw that he no longer felt that Austin, his real first name, suited him. So, therefore, from now on, he will simply be known as Theory. And wasting no time, the company has already updated his profile on WWE.com.

Initially, many fans on social media believed the decision was simply because Vince McMahon is simply obsessed with mononym names. However, during the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, it’s been reported the reason is because Steve Austin has returned to the company, and McMahon doesn’t like having two Austin’s on the roster. Yet, why the decision was made after the pair already had a segment together at WrestleMania remains a mystery.

In the past, there have been other examples of other wrestlers going through a similar process, such as Shane Helms becoming Gregory Helms because of Shane McMahon, and Sean Morley was called Chief Morley due to Shawn Michaels. Nevertheless, this isn’t the only reason for a WWE name change, as it is known McMahon is a fan of mononym names, with Natalya Neidhardt, Antonio Cesaro, Angel Garza, and Mustafa Ali all having their names shortened. At one time, it was also thought Dominik Mysterio was losing his surname due to trademark filings, although plans obviously changed.

Once Cody and Brandi Rhodes departed AEW, the big question was what the future held for Cody. Now that has been revealed following his WrestleMania return, it had been assumed Brandi would focus on her Shot Of Brandi cooking show. However, Fightful Select has reported that Brandi’s wrestling career may not be over, as when she was backstage with Cody, she was in talks with what was described as “influential WWE names.” Additionally, it’s been confirmed she has been continuing her wrestling training.

38-year-old Brandi was never regarded as a great in-ring performer. Still, when you consider she’s only had circa 65 matches, that is understandable. Given that, it’s doubtful WWE would have her wrestle singles matches with the likes of Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, and Charlotte Flair. Nevertheless, given how WWE loves to team up real-life couples like The Miz/Maryse, Edge/Beth Phoenix, and Seth Rollins/Becky Lynch, it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise to see Brandi wrestle alongside Cody against one of those pairings.