WWE’s Saturday night house show took place at Madison Square Garden, and the big draw was Brock Lesnar wrestling an unannounced opponent. While some fans in attendance were disappointed that he’d face Austin Theory in what was effectively a squash, what happened afterward left fans talking. This is because, after Lesnar’s victory, Roman Reigns and then the Uso’s would hit the ring attacking Lesnar. While Lesnar would initially fight them off, Reigns took control thanks to a steel chair, and after the Uso’s brought in some steel steps, Reigns would Rock Bottom a bloody Lesnar onto them.

With MSG seen as WWE’s home arena, Vince McMahon always goes above and beyond even when the show is just a house show. This is why Lesnar was wrestling, and based on reports from those in attendance, the closing angle rounded off a great event. WWE would also ensure fans went home happy as after The Bloodline left the ring, Lesnar would recover and was laughing and interacting with fans at ringside. 

Everyone was shocked when Cody Rhodes’ AEW contact wasn’t extended by Tony Khan like he did with other originals, Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, and The Young Bucks. However, it was assumed that Rhodes and Khan would come to an agreement, as AEW without Rhodes seemed unimaginable. Yet, Rhodes, along with his Brandi, has departed the company, and it was thought to be just a matter of time before he would sign with WWE.

Now though, following Bodyslam reporting that negations had “fizzled out,” Ryan Frederick of F4Wonline.com has provided more information. Specifically, writing on their forum that the offer was initially made to Rhodes before leaving AEW has been torn up, and a new lower offer was made.

How reliable the update by Frederick isn’t clear as he typically covers MMA, and at present, it appears nobody outside of Cody and his immediate family knows what he is going to do. But if accurate, he seemingly has to choose between signing for WWE for less money or contacting Khan and trying to repair their relationship and returning to AEW.

AEW has endeavored to keep the memory of Brodie Lee alive since his tragic passing in 2020 and continues to support his family to this day. The latest way they have accomplished this is by releasing an action figure of his eldest song Brodie Lee Jr. standing alongside his deeply missed father. This was announced on social media on Saturday, with the toys being sold solely via Ringside Collectibles for $59.99.

Lee Jr. has a full-time contract with AEW waiting for him once he turns 18 and has made several appearances across AEW television under his Negative 1 gimmick. And while he is considered the unofficial leader of The Dark Order, he has been known to miss shows due to not maintaining the standard of his schoolwork, with his mother Amanda insisting he can only attend events when his grades are up. Seemingly though, he is doing well at present, as the touching photo above was taken at last night’s live episode of Rampage.

Erick Redbeard made his AEW debut during the emotional Celebration of Life episode of Dynamite, honoring Brodie Lee. At the time, it was thought he may be signing with the promotion; however, nothing materialized, and he returned to working independents. Now though, the former WWE star has returned to AEW during this week’s Rampage to partner with PAC and Penta for their pay-per-view match at Revolution against the House of Black.

Usually, when a wrestler signs with AEW, Tony Khan tweets out the famous All Elite graphic, which as of writing hasn’t happened. This would seemingly indicate this is only a short-term run with AEW as they needed someone to fill in for the injured Rey Fenix. Although, an impressive performance at Revolution could change that with Khan constantly adding to his roster.

Redbeard is best known for his time in WWE, where he competed as Erick Rowan as part of the Wyatt family alongside Bray Wyatt and Brodie Lee, who was called Luke Harper. He and Lee would compete over 400 times as tag partners capturing the NXT Tag Team Championship and later the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship when repacked as The Bludgeon Brother. 

Earlier this week, AEWShop.com released a new Ruby Soho shirt that was inspired by an old Rancid shirt. Fans seemed to like it, but ECW legend Taz wasn’t impressed as he’d tweet out, “I thought there was a new member to #TeamTaz,” in reference to the color scheme. This would result in some fans telling Taz he doesn’t own the combination of orange and black. In contrast, others would say that with him being synonymous with the colors, nobody else should use them.

Now, Taz has given his take on someone else using the orange and black color scheme, comparing it to Bret Hart and DX’s branding. Saying that there should be respect for someone else’s colors while in the same company.

Initially, it appeared that Taz was just joking regarding a new member of Team Taz, but seemingly based on his subsequent tweet, he may actually be irritated by this. It’s doubtful Soho or anyone at AEWShop.com gave a second thought to using the colors since Taz has been retired as a wrestler for so long. However, from now on, anyone in AEW wanting to use the colors might want to check with Taz first just in case he is serious.

On June 26th, 2020, Impact Wrestling announced that Michel Elgin was no longer with the company after being named in the #SpeakingOut movement. Like many others also accused of indecent conduct during this time, his career appears to be effectively over, seeing as he has only wrestled twice since. However, Elgin isn’t just accepting this because, according to PWInsiderElite.com, he is suing Impact Wresting for “not less than $5 million“.

It’s understood the lawsuit stems from Impact Wrestling not carrying out an investigation and publicly making it appear he had been fired despite him remaining under contract and still being paid up until he filled the lawsuit. It’s also calmed that the promotion prevented him from working for Japanese promotion NOAH in December 2020, which damaged his reputation in the country.

Elgin is an 18 year veteran in the wrestling business despite only being 35 and first came to prominence when he and Davey Richard had a match of the year contender at 2012’s ROH Showdown In The Sun. His career highlight would then come in 2016 when he defeated Kenny Omega for New Japan’s IWGP Intercontinental Championship. More recently, though, he has been dealing with a painkiller addiction that required rehab and was arrested after violating a protection order filed by his ex-fiance.

Ric Flair and Triple H’s relationship was always known to be strong, with Flair crediting him for helping him regain his confidence to continue his career after WCW went out of business. Now though it appears with Flair no longer with the company and Triple H having suffered health issues, the pair are no longer close. This would be revealed by Flair himself during the latest episode of his Wooooo Nation Uncensored podcast when he was asked about Triple H’s current involvement with WWE.

Flair has previously disclosed that he is no longer in contact with any of his Four Horsemen stablemates. With the loss of Arn Anderson’s friendship being the one that bothered him the most. Now with longtime friend Triple H seemingly having dropped him and having recently separated from his fifth wife, Wendy Barlow, it certainly appears to be a bleak time in the life of the wrestling legend. However, he is regularly seen partying with Hulk Hogan in Tampa, so it seems he isn’t letting it get him down.

Nia Jax caused controversy earlier this week on social media by taking to Instagram to criticize people who say they stand with Ukraine but have been vaccinated. It was certainly a bizarre take, and her post would receive a lot of backlash. Now, it appears that it wasn’t only fans bothered by this, as one eagle-eyed fan has noticed that Becky Lynch has unfollowed Jax on the platform.

While it can’t be confirmed that Lynch unfollowing Jax is connected to her post, the timing certainly makes it appear probable. Jax has previously been outspoken about the vaccine, and it’s believed that her WWE release was due to her refusal to be vaccinated. Now, in addition to losing her job over this viewpoint, it appears she may have also lost a friend.

Vince McMahon appeared on The Pat McAfee Show this past Thursday, and while it wasn’t a hard-hitting interrogation, it was certainly worth watching as McMahon would open up for the first time in several years on multiple topics. Among them was WWE’s controversial relationship with Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Entertainment, with McMahon reasoning that just because Americans feel a certain way doesn’t mean thousands of year-old cultures shouldn’t be respected.

Many critics of WWE say the company accepts blood money in exchange for sports washing a country that doesn’t permit LGBT equality, commits human rights abuses, and suppresses women. Defenders, though, will say WWE is helping improve things, and Saudi wrestling fans who attend the shows are not to blame for their government. The whole situation is obviously incredibly complex, and ultimately McMahon and WWE feel the positives from the deal outweigh the negatives.

When it was announced Cody and Brandi Rhodes were departing AEW, speculation began immediately that Cody was headed to WWE. Shortly afterward, multiple reports would confirm this, and it seemed it was not if, but when he would be returning to WWE. However, Bodyslam has now called that into question as they are reporting sources have told them negotiations are no longer progressing.

Tony Khan has spoken about Cody’s departure in interviews and stated he didn’t want to lose to him. With his return to WWE possibly being off, whether Cody is open to returning to AEW would be fascinating to know. Another potential factor that could come into play is that it’s believed Cody was unhappy losing his creative influence in AEW. Since Khan now owns Ring of Honor and is unlikely to have time to book another promotion, perhaps this would open the door to a Cody booked ROH.

52-year-old Buff Bagwell has been finding life tough as in addition to multiple incidents with the law stemming from his drug and alcohol addictions, he also recently lost his mother. He would then take the brave step to reach out to WWE for help with rehab but claims they turned it down. This was very surprising as while WWE has no legal obligation to pay for him to attend rehab, they have helped multiple former talents tackle their demons in the past. Now, though, Bagwell has revealed in a tweet that Diamond Dallas Page has stepped in and is aiding him.

Between 2012 and 2014, Page would similarly help Jake Roberts, which was chronicled in The Resurrection of Jake the Snake documentary released in 2015. Seemingly, this is the same plan for Bagwell, and considering that Roberts ended up inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and getting hired by AEW, Bagwell has enormous motivation to turn his life around.

Former Ring of Honor contracted wrestler Session Moth Martina revealed on social media that she was traveling to the US from Ireland a few days ago, which automatically put fans on alert. Now it has been revealed that, as suspected, the trip was work-related as she has made her AEW debut during the latest set of Dark: Elevation tapings. While she was unsuccessful in her match against Ruby Soho, this is customary when a non-contracted wrestler faces a signed talent.

It was thought Martina was set for her big break after signing with ROH in 2020. However, things wouldn’t work out for her due to worldwide events preventing her from traveling to the US, and she ended up only working a handful of events for the promotion. Now though, it appears she could be set for a second opportunity to make it in the States, as while it isn’t known whether this was her official tryout, it seems doubtful she’d travel from Ireland to simply make up the numbers.