Tessa Blanchard hasn’t regularly competed since departing Impact Wrestling last year. She left on bad terms after refusing to cooperate with them while their main champion and then tried to get them to pay her $150,000 to return the physical belt when she was released. While that would be enough for many promotions not to want to work with her, she has also been accused of using a racial slur and spitting in the face of a fellow wrestler.

While she certainly has the talent to wrestle for WWE or AEW, a report by Bodyslam.net last month would report that “She’s nuclear” regarding those promotions indicating she won’t be signing with either anytime soon. However, early this week, it was announced that David McLane, the founder of GLOW, is bringing back his Women of Wrestling promotion, built around Blanchard in the ring, and they are capitalizing on the controversy by selling a t-shirt featuring an explosion and the word “Nuclear.”

While some fans are excited to watch WOW when it re-debuts next year as a syndicated weekend television show. Many are already declaring they won’t watch due to Blanchard’s involvement. WOW already has an uphill struggle establishing itself in such a competitive wrestling market, so building around Blanchard is a risky choice. Only time will tell if it was wise or ultimately lead to the permanent end of the promotion, which has been on and off since 2000.

As soon as CM Punk returned to the wrestling ring, fans began speculating whether his wife AJ Lee would eventually join him in AEW. When he name-dropped her during Dynamite, she would start to trend on Twitter, and it appeared there was a real possibility she may be making her own comeback. However, while speaking to NYPost.com, Punk shot down any chances of that happening, revealing that the damage to her vertebrae makes a return improbable.

However, early this week, it was announced that David McLane, the founder of GLOW, is bringing back his Women of Wrestling promotion, and Lee will be both an executive producer and commentator. This again raised the question about a potential in-ring return. Now, on WOW’s YouTube channel, she has stated that she is physically healed enough to wrestle again but doesn’t think the challenge is there.

It’s fantastic to hear that Lee could compete again if she wanted, and this news will likely result in future speculation of a comeback. Lee hasn’t wrestled since 2015, with her last match being a six-women tag match on Raw the night after WrestleMania 31. She has since built a new career and is a successful writer, having co-written a comic book version of GLOW based on the Netflix series and four issues of a Dungeons & Dragons limited series. In addition to working on WOW, she is currently working on the film script for a Netflix sequel to the 2013 film 47 Ronin, which starred Keanu Reeves.

Since 2016, Bruce Prichard, who is currently considered Vince McMahon’s right-hand man, has hosted his own podcast. Some credit the top-rated show with assisting his return to WWE after being fired by Stephanie McMahon back in 2008. He now leads WWE’s creative teams and is considered the most powerful person in the company, not named McMahon.

Despite his position and influence in WWE, he still hosts the podcast, and while the show remains entertaining, he does get called out for playing fast and loose with the truth. Although, it is understandable that details can be misremembered when talking about things that occurred decades ago. However, that excuse doesn’t cut it with recent events.

Now, following the latest episode of Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard, a fan on social media has pointed out that his claim of not knowing who Kenny Omega was before 2019 doesn’t match past comments he has previously made. This is because, during a 2018 episode, Prichard would acknowledge watching Omega in Japan.

Why Prichard felt the need to deceive his listeners is not known. Unfortunately, lying and wrestling go hand in hand, with it often the case of not wanting the truth to get in the way of a good story. Seemingly even it makes you appear ignorant or foolish in the process.

Alberto Del Rio is currently looking to rebuild his career and reputation following assault and kidnapping allegations that were made against him by an ex-girlfriend. She has rescinded these allegations, and Del Rio claims she made them due to wanting revenge for him cheating on her before their wedding. However, he still has a court date scheduled for later this year, which could see him spending significant time in prison if found guilty due to the State of Texas still proceeding.

Seemingly though, Del Rio is confident he will be found not guilty and will soon be returning to the big stage. As according to Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the disgraced wrestler is telling people he is WWE bound once his legal issues are resolved.

Del Rio had a very successful original run in WWE where he was a two-time WWE Champion, two-time World Heavyweight Champion, Royal Rumble winner, and Money In The Bank winner. Unfortunately for him, he would be fired in 2014 after hitting a WWE employee who made a discriminatory joke. He then returned for a second run in 2015 and won the United States Championship from John Cena but later quit the company after failing a wellness test and being unhappy with his push. While it seems incredibly unlikely WWE would bring him back for the third time, anything is possible with Vince McMahon, so perhaps it isn’t as farfetched as fight thought.

Chelsea Green is currently proving there is life after WWE, with her diary full of bookings. At present, she is working with Ring of Honor, Impact Wrestling, and Billy Corgan’s NWA simultaneously. Outside of that, she is still hustling with a podcast, a new 2022 calendar and was looking to launch her own 0nly Fans account. Unfortunately, though, for both Green and her fans, she has revealed on Twitter that the well-known adult site rebuffed her for a second time.

It should be noted that while the subscription site is known for its large amount of adult content, not every content creator posts explicit material. As of writing, it isn’t known why her application was rejected as Green didn’t share that information. However, with the news going public and 0nly Fans likely figuring out they are going to miss out on significant money from aroused wrestling fans, it wouldn’t be surprising if they alter their decision.

Chris Harris, who is best known for his time as part of America’s Most Wanted alongside James Storm, was arrested on October 5th, according to a report by PWInsider.com. Apparently, the former TNA star was driving while under the influence of alcohol in Kenton County, Kentucky. Once pulled over, he could not produce an insurance card and was taken to jail at 10:05 PM, where he spent the night. He would be released on a $2500 bond and now has a court date scheduled for November 2nd.

While no longer actively wrestling, Harris appeared for Impact Wrestling earlier this year to coincide with Storm’s 1000th match for the promotion. First, he would appear during a backstage segment hugging his former tag partner. Then later in the episode, he came out with Storm along with Jake Something and Chris Sabin for Storm’s match against Eric Young, who was with his Violent By Design faction. However, Harris would end up getting involved in the match’s finish following a ringside confrontation with Young, which saw him punch his fellow TNA original and roll him into the ring to be superkicked by Storm.

Harris and Storm tagged together between 2001 and 2006. They won six world tag team championships during that time, were voted Tag Team of the Year by Wrestling Observer readers, and won TNA’s 2004 Match of the Year when they faced Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper at Turning Point. Harris would end up signing with WWE and briefly competed on their ECW brand in 2008 under the name Braden Walker but had little success, and his career fizzled out from there.

During this week’s episode of Dynamite, Bobby Fish would debut for AEW, having challenged new TNT Champion Sammy Guevara on Twitter last week. The match was competitive, but Guevara would win after avoiding a buzzsaw kick and hitting the GTH out of nowhere for the win. While the match was somewhat brief, 44-year-old Fish did look good, and AEW has since announced that he has officially signed with the company. This had been speculated on since AEW began promoting the match due to the official graphic for the match featuring Fish wearing a t-shirt with an AEW logo in the bottom corner of the artwork.

Fish had previously been with NXT since the brand’s June 23rd, 2017 television tapings, with it announced he had signed a full-time contract the next month. He and longtime tag partner Kyle O’Reilly would go on to align with Adam Cole becoming known as The Undisputed Era and twice held the NXT Tag Team Championship. Unfortunately for him, due to budgetary cuts, he would be released on August 6th, 2021. However, being an NXT talent, he only had a 30-day non-compete clause that allowed him to return to the indie circuit in September. Prior to debuting for AEW, he had most recently wrestled for MLW in their Opera Cup, defeating Lee Moriarty’s in the first round before losing to Davey Richards.

Prior to Dynamite, AEW tapes Dark: Elevation for YouTube. This week, two veterans would appear with former WCW wrestler Crowbar, accompanied by ECW original The Blue Meanie, in a match against Joey Janela, who was with Kayla Rossi. Unsurprisingly, the full-time talent Janela would be victorious, and after the match, Sonny Kiss would try but failed to attack former their tag partner afterward.

For those unaware, Crowbar wrestled all over the US in the 90s and became known to the masses for his run in WCW. He would hold the promotions Cruiserweight, Hardcore, and Tag Team Championship with David Flair during this time. Unfortunately, he would be released by the company shortly before WWE purchased them in 2001. While he did remain in wrestling, going on to wrestle on Velocity and Heat for WWE, he would focus his time towards his physical therapy career and now runs his own facility in New Jersey. Having now wrestled on Dark Elevation, he is the only wrestler to have wrestled for WWE, WCW, ECW, TNA, ROH, and AEW.

Regarding The Blue Meanie, he is most famous for being an ECW original and leader of the Blue World Order. However, he did have a memorable run for WWE during the Attitude Era and returned to the company in 2005. This was following WWE’s ECW One Night Stand event, which famously saw JBL take liberties with him during a brawl. While he continues to compete on the independent scene sporadically, his focus is on his Mind of the Meanie podcast, where he talks about the latest wrestling news. Additionally, he helps train future stars at the Monster Factory wrestling school. Recently one of the school’s alumni, Matt Riddle, would credit him with teaching him how to work.

Ever since WWE released Lana earlier this year, fans have been speculating that she was AEW-bound due to being married to Miro. While as of yet nothing has materialized, Miro will frequently reference “my wife” in promos and the belief it is just a matter of time before she appears. Now adding further speculation to this, when asked about joining AEW during a virtual autograph signing this past weekend, she wouldn’t deny it was happening.

In fact, she would tell fans watching to “Stay tuned. I can’t give everything away,” seemingly indicating something is planned, but she just can’t discuss it right now. Lana would also reveal that when she does wrestle again, she intends to go by the name Lana despite her real name being Catherine, stating that WWE couldn’t trademark it because it was too specific.

AEW has recently brought in multiple former WWE talents, including Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, and Adam Cole. However, they have been limited in terms of recruiting new women’s wrestlers, with Ruby Soho being the only big name signed. While Lana isn’t regarded as a top-tier performer in the ring, she is far better than people give her credit for and would certainly bring a star presence to the division.

Lana was a dancer and model before getting involved in pro wrestling in 2013 and adopting a Russian accent to manage her future husband Miro, then called Rusev. She would begin wrestling in 2016, initially in tag matches and mainly on house shows. By 2020 was a regular television wrestler and had a memorable feud with Nia Jax, which saw her put through tables every week. At this stage, she was getting over with fans and formed a tag team with Naomi. Somewhat surprisingly, she would be released just a few days after the duo lost to Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose on Raw due to cost-cutting.

WWE is returning to Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel, their sixth event as part of the country’s Saudi Vision 2030 initiative on October 21, 2021. The card is now taking shape, and it’s been announced that WWE Raw Tag Team Champions Matt Riddle and Randy Orton, collectively known as RK-Bro, will be facing Omos and AJ Styles.

While some talents are believed to be troubled about returning to the country for multiple reasons, Riddle isn’t likely to be among them. The reason for this is he will be earning $50,000 for his appearance. Riddle negotiated this payment to top up his $400,000 a year downside guarantee when he negotiated his WWE contract extension back in 2020. While this is obviously a significant amount of money for a single match, it pales into insignificance to what other talents have been paid previously, with Brock Lesnar reportedly earning $1.5 million per match, and Shawn Michaels received an incredible $3 million to come out of retirement in 2018.

Things are currently going well in Riddle’s career, his partnership with Orton is very popular with fans, and RK-Bro merchandise is among the company’s top sellers. Additionally, a lawsuit filed by Samantha Tavel, who wrestles as Candy Cartwright, claiming he assaulted her while they worked for EVOLVE, was dropped. It isn’t known if Tavel received any financial settlement from Riddle for her to drop the lawsuit. Still, it does mean WWE can push Riddle without the fear of any more further negative press.

Johnny Gargano has been an instrumental part of NXT since signing with WWE in 2016. However, with the brand recently being revamped and the focus on youthful and physically impressive talents, certain wrestlers’ time on the brand will be coming to an end. Among the names speculated on that could soon depart the company is NXT mainstay, Johnny Gargano. Adding credence to that, he has removed “WWE NXT Wrestler” from his Twitter bio. Instead, he simply refers to himself as a pro wrestler.

Gargano has been an instrumental part of NXT since signing with WWE in 2016. However, his contract is set to expire in December. While he has made brief appearances on the main roster during his five years with the company, the fact he is now in his mid-30s and has yet to be called up permanently isn’t a good sign. Especially when you consider the draft has just taken place so that it would have been the perfect opportunity to move him up. Additionally, he didn’t appear on this past week’s episode of NXT.

If Gargano is set to depart the company, the timing wouldn’t be ideal as he will become a father in February 2022 as his wife and fellow NXT wrestler Candice LeRae is pregnant with their first child. Although he is unlikely to be out of work for long, he is incredibly popular with fans due to his in-ring work. Whether AEW would bring him in is uncertain due to how extensive their roster is at present. Still, if not, both Impact Wrestling and Ring of Honor would likely love to sign him.

Buddy Matthews, who wrestled as Buddy Murphy in WWE, has been strongly rumored to be headed to Impact Wrestling to work in the X-Division. Nevertheless, following news that AEW’s upcoming Casino Ladder Match will feature a Joker, fans have been examining possible surprise participants, with Matthews name suggested. Seemingly noticing this speculation, Matthews would post a joker emoji on Twitter teasing that it was him. However, possibly more revealing is that he subsequently deleted the tweet, perhaps fearing he had spoiled the surprise.

AEW rarely lets fans down when surprises are promised, and Matthews would fit the bill, although there are several other possibilities when you consider how many talents have been let go by WWE this year. It’s entirely possible it was a red herring by Matthews, although deleting the tweet would seem unnecessary. Seemingly fans will now need to wait until match introductions to find out, with some likely being disappointed if he doesn’t debut.

The Australian last wrestled for WWE in April, making up the numbers in the André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal on SmackDown. Then just two months later, he was deemed surplus to requirements and released. With his 90-day release clause expiring several weeks ago, he has already made a handful of indie appearances. His most high profile of them was for ROH founder Rob Feinstein’s inaugural Battleground Championship Wrestling show. The former WWE star was booked to wrestle AEW’s Brian Cage but instead faced KC Navarro when Cage couldn’t compete.