This past Friday, WWE taped next week’s SmackDown due to most of the roster needing to travel to Saudi Arabia when the show is airing. While it was an eventful taping featuring Goldberg and Ronda Rousey, the big news coming out of the show was Sami Zayn won the Intercontinental Championship from Shinsuke Nakamura.

While it initially seemed the reason for the title change was simply because Zayn was receiving a push following him signing a new contract, Dave Meltzer has now reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that it seems to have been done for storyline reasons. This is because Johnny Knoxville looks to be wrestling Zayn at WrestleMania for the Intercontinental Championship.

Knoxville got involved with WWE to promote the latest Jackass movie, and his interactions with Zayn have been some of the most entertaining moments on television. In fact, while most fans were disappointed with the men’s Royal Rumble match, Knoxville’s involvement was considered a highlight. However, if the company puts the title on Knoxville, it likely wouldn’t go down well with fans, as many would compare it to David Arquette winning the WCW Championship in 2000.

16-year-old Nick Wayne began wrestling in 2018, and since then, has built up quite a following for his high flying and technical ability. While he is best known for his work in Game Changer Wrestling, it now appears his long-term future is with AEW as following his match against Christopher Daniels at DEFY’s 5th-anniversary show, Darby Allin would enter the ring and present him an AEW contract. A video of this can be seen below.

Given his age and how long he has been wrestling, it is safe to say that the business has always been a big part of his life. In fact, his father, Buddy Wayne, wrestled for both WWE and WCW as an enhancement talent in the 90s and 2000s and is responsible for training his son. Since the video went viral, it has been reported that the contract is similar to what Brodie Lee’s son has. Meaning that while it is a legitimate contract, it doesn’t come into effect until he is 18, as AEW wants him to finish high school. However, he could still make an appearance for Tony Khan’s promotion before that, as long as it isn’t a school night.

At one time, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship was the most prestigious title in all wrestling, with legendary names such as Lou Thesz, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, and Terry Funk having all held the belt. Over the years, though, its reputation in wrestling had declined as the NWA as an organization has reduced in standing. Now though, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins is attempting to bring the company back to relevancy, and his latest attempt at doing this is by putting the title on Matt Cardona.

Cardona would win the title from Trevor Murdoch on Saturday night ending his 167 days as champion, and footage of the finish and celebration can be viewed thanks to a fan in attendance. The entire match is scheduled to air on NWA Powerrr this upcoming Tuesday on FITE and then later in the week on YouTube.

Since his 2020 release by WWE, Cardona has become one of the most talked-about wrestlers on social media and appeared for AEW, Impact Wrestling, and GCW, where he would begin wresting deathmatches. And while he has won other titles post-WWE, likely, this will always be considered the most meaningful considering the historical significance.

It’s understood that Mustafa Ali requested his release following a heated argument earlier this year with Vince McMahon. The belief is McMahon sugged a new gimmick to Ali, and it was something the former Retribution leader deemed distasteful. Since then, it became known that the company tried to reconcile with Ali by offering him a spot in the Royal Rumble. Yet he would decline and stated he still wanted out of his WWE contract.

Based on a recent tweet by Ali, it now appears that WWE has no intention of agreeing to his request. Therefore this means he will have to wait out his contract, which has 2.5 years remaining.

Ali’s last match for WWE was on the October 29, 2021, episode of SmackDown, which saw him lose to Drew McIntyre in two minutes. Since then, he has been home, with it initially believed he was simply on paternity leave following the birth of his third child. However, that was apparently only for one show, and he had been looking forward to returning until his conversation with McMahon.

Following a heavily criticized men’s Royal Rumble match that Shane McMahon produced, news broke that he had effectively been let go by the company. This surprised everyone, as while there have been known issues in the McMahon family in the past, nobody ever seriously thought Vince would ever effectively fire his son. Now during an interview with Sports Illustrated, AEW boss Tony Khan has been asked about his departure as many fans have speculated that Shane could potentially join AEW.

The idea of Shane McMahon working with AEW seems far-fetched; however, wrestling history is filled with examples of the unthinkable actually occurring, such as Bret Hart returning to WWE. Seemingly it appears Khan is open to a discussion. Hence, it just comes down to whether Shane has any interest in working with his father’s competition.

NXT 2.0 is all about creating stars of the future, and while the belief is independent talent is no longer a priority for WWE, Rok-C, real name Carla Gonzalez recently received a WWE tryout. Subsequently, it has been reported by F4Wonline that the company has offered the 20-year-old former ROH Women’s World Champion a contract. While it wasn’t confirmed if she’s signed, it seems unlikely she’d decline, considering it’s known her childhood dream was to be a WWE Diva.

Rok-C began training at just 13 years of age and began wrestling matches in 2018 on the Texas indigent scene. She would soon become recognized for her potential, and after working for Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling, she would go on to sign with ROH before winning their championship and successfully defending it on multiple occasions. However, with the company going on hiatus and releasing all talents from their contracts, she would become a free agent and since worked for both Impact Wrestling and MLW. 

New stars are the lifeblood of pro wrestling, and WWE is always on the lookout for talents that can make a difference in terms of ratings and merchandise sales. But, of course, finding these performers is never easy, although it appears WWE has identified AEW’s Jade Cargill as someone they’d like to bring in. This has been revealed by Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men podcast, who would state that he knows “for a fact that people in WWE are interested in her now that they’ve gotten to see what she can do on TV.“

Cargill signed a multi-year deal with AEW in November 2020, so it will be some time before WWE can negotiate to bring her in. However, when that opportunity does come, if WWE is still interested, Cargill could likely negotiate herself a great deal considering how strongly AEW has been pushing her. In fact, the 29-year old has only wrestled 28 matches in her entire career and has yet to experience defeat, and is the current and inaugural AEW TBS Champion.

WWE previously had the opportunity to sign Cargill as she attended a tryout at the WWE Performance Center in April 2019. Although she would reveal during a recent episode of Talk is Jericho that the company wasn’t entirely comfortable with her having a young daughter and wanted her to give up her other sponsorship deals, which actually paid more than a WWE contract would. Additionally, she would reveal that the fact she could directly call Tony Khan, and he knew her name made her feel comfortable signing with AEW. So given that, even if WWE does want to bring her in the future, it’s still conceivable she’ll remain All Elite.

With WWE set to travel to Saudi Arabia next Friday for Elimination Chamber, the company would tape next week’s SmackDown straight after this week’s. During this taping, WWE would have Sami Zayn defeat Shinsuke Nakamura to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship. This is Zayn’s third reign with the title, with WWE seemingly wanting to capitalize on his recent feud with Jackass star Johnny Knoxville.

Zayn is one of WWE’s unsung heroes, who can always be depended on to put on a good match or make a segment entertaining regardless of the material. Evidently, WWE recognizes this as it was revealed three weeks ago he had agreed on a new multi-year contract with the company. Now with him signed long-term, it appears the company is getting fully behind pushing him.

Lita is set to wrestle her first singles match in almost a decade when she faces off against Becky Lynch on Saturday 19th February. While many old-school fans are delighted to see the 46-year-old return to action, some fans have noted the fact the match takes place in Saudi Arabia, a country known for not giving women equal rights, is disappointing.

The WWE Hal of Famer has herself been critical of WWE’s relationship with the Saudi Arabian government in the past. However, in an interview with Ring The Belle, she has now explained why she has agreed to wrestle in the country.

While some have claimed Lita sold out for blood money, and, indeed, wrestling on shows in Saudi Arabia pays exceptionally well, there has undoubtedly been progress in the country. However, how responsible WWE is for this is debatable. Regardless of the political circumstances, though, shows in the country are typically booked as major shows, and Lita vs. Lynch is undoubtedly a dream match for anyone who enjoys women’s wrestling.

Last November, Keith Lee was released by WWE, having missed a significant portion of 2021 away from the ring due to ill-health. At the time, there wasn’t much known about why Lee had suddenly gone on hiatus. However, he would later reveal that a heart issue was discovered in his blood work, and he was not allowed to train. It was considered a career and even a life-threatening situation at the time. Still, he thankfully returned, although he was never again treated as a top star again.

However, during this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, he would for Tony Khan’s promotion and wowed fans in an incredibly impressive four-minute contest, much to the credit of Isiah Kassidy’s selling ability. Now, Lee has taken to social media to thank the fans for the warm welcome and revealed the fan who had up a sign for him “touched his soul.“

Lee was considered a can’t miss talent in WWE, and Vince McMahon even told Randy Orton to make him look like a star when they wrestled. Unfortunately, McMahon would sour on Lee and send him to receive additional training, seemingly wanting to change what made him stand out. Thankfully, though, AEW is much more likely to allow Lee to be himself, and therefore, he can be a top star in the company.

Four months ago, during a Saturday night episode of Dynamite, Lance Archer wrestled Eddie Kingston in the first round of the AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament. The duo would put be putting on an exciting hard-hitting match. However, things went wrong when Archer ended up under rotating on a moonsault and landed on his head.

Hurt and dazed, he rolled out of the ring and was checked out by AEW’s doctor. Then, presumably, after getting confirmation that he could finish the contest, he slowly re-entered the ring and was rolled up and pinned by Kingston. Now, having recovered, he opened up in an interview on Busted Open about the injury and revealed how close he came to being paralyzed.

Thankfully, Archer returned to the ring in January, predominantly winning squash matches on Dark and Elevation. However, he would wrestle one of the biggest matches of his career on this week’s episode of Dynamite when he faced Adam Page for the AEW Championship. The pair would wrestle an outstanding and bloody Texas Death Match, which saw Page retain after hitting Archer with a Buckshot Lariat through a table on the floor.

AEW has been in acquisition mode the past few years, with Tony Khan taking advantage of the mass WWE releases to take his roster to another level. Nevertheless, there has to be a limit to how many wrestlers he has on his roster, and with many of Khan’s initial recruits contracts expiring soon, there has been a lot of speculation on who will and won’t be re-signed. Among them is Joey Janela, and now while speaking to the Rasslin’ podcast, he has admitted he doesn’t know what is happening with any potential renewal but believes he will be kept on.

32-year-old Janela last wrestled for AEW in mid-January and has been regular on Dark over the past few years. However, while he has typically been picking up victories, his last two matches have seen him put others over, which is never a good sign. Although given that he is one of the leading talents in Game Changer Wrestling and has built up a cult following online, if AEW and he do part ways, he likely won’t be short of bookings.