Aleister Black is currently part of the SmackDown brand, but you wouldn’t know that from watching the show as he hasn’t wrestled on the brand since leaving Raw last October. The belief is that Vince McMahon isn’t a fan, and the push he received in 2020, which saw him defeat the likes of AJ Styles, Bobby Lashley, and Seth Rollins, was down to Paul Heyman. When Heyman lost his creative position, Black, along with Andrade, Angel Garza, Murphy, Humberto Carrillo, plummeted down the card, and Akam and Rezar were released. Things became even more complicated for Black once his wife Zelina Vega was released on November 13, 2020, after she went against the companies third-party ban and later tweeted support for unionization. He reportedly asked to move to NXT, where he was a former champion, but management declined his request. Since then, he has been at home. However, it now appears WWE may be looking to reintroduce Black back to television as he has been training at the Performance Center recently. It’s understood that Black is currently dealing with some minor injuries. Still, once he recovers, he could be set to return to the ring for the first time since October 12, 2020, where he lost a no disqualification match to Kevin Owens.

Over the years, Impact Wrestling has been on various days of the week and currently airs its flagship show on Tuesday night. However, there were concerns raised for the promotion with WWE expected to move NXT to that night after WrestleMania. It’s now been announced that Impact and AXS have decided to relocate to Thursday nights starting from April 8th. To get fans to note this change, Impact has announced the big match of Kenny Omega, making his Impact Wrestling in-ring non-PPV debut teaming with Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows taking on Rich Swann, Eddie Edwards, and Willie Mack.

Impact and AXS had no real option but to move, as when NXT went head-to-head with them last year due to Wednesday preemptions as Impact saw an approximate 40% drop in viewers. Historically the promotion aired on Thursdays when known as TNA, and the move makes sense as no other major wrestling company airs on television that day. This now means every weeknight has a wrestling show on television with Mondays being Raw, Tuesday’s soon to be NXT, Wednesday nights for AEW Dynamite, Thursday’s for Impact Wrestling, and SmackDown on Fridays.

The Dark Order’s John Silver took part in one of his biggest career matches last night by main eventing Dynamite against TNT Champion Darby Allin. It was a really good match, with Allin retaining his title. However, following the conclusion of Dynamite, Allin cut a promo for the live crowd and put over Silver and noted that he was pretty sure that Silver dislocated your shoulder halfway through the match. Looking back, the injury appears to have taken place when Silver went over the barricade, and he landed on his shoulder. You can watch this below.

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Silver would sadly take to Twitter later in the evening and confirmed the injury saying, “Came up short tonight. Shoulder is messed up. Doctor doesn’t think it’s too serious but I’ll keep everyone updated once I know.” He’d also post a photo of a huge bump on his head. Hopefully, he doesn’t end up missing too much time, as Silver is one of AEW’s up-and-coming stars, and an extended period away from the ring be a blow to The Dark Order, who recently lost Anna Jay through a shoulder injury as well.

On the St. Patrick’s Day Slam edition of Dynamite, a new hardcore legend was born when Britt Baker put her body through hell in a brutal Lights Out match. Her opponent Thunder Rosa was victorious, but Baker took much of the praise and proved you can get over in defeat.

On last night’s Dynamite, Baker would cut a promo putting herself over, and included a thank you to Mick Foley for his thumbs-ups. However, she did this sarcastically, noting she became a hardcore legend in one night, while it took him twenty years. You can watch an excerpt of her excellent promo below.

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Mick Foley would see this and took to Twitter saying, “Not going to lie…this comment from @RealBrittBaker stung a little 😪.” It should be noted that Baker was wearing a flannel shirt around her waist, clearly in tribute to Foley, and her comment was in character. It isn’t known if Foley genuinely took offense to the statement or was playing along. However, if it leads to a Foley making an appearance for AEW down the line, it will be a fantastic payoff.

Over the weekend, a screenshot began circulating, which showed a Daniel Bryan collection on the WWE Network captioned as 2021 WWE Hall Of Fame Inductee. WWE acted quickly to removed the text, and it was gone within the hour. However, it looked as though WWE had spoiled an upcoming Hall of Fame reveal and that Bryan would be going in alongside Molly Holly and Eric Bischoff, who were the only two names officially announced at the time.

While WWE doesn’t usually put active wrestlers in their Hall of Fame, with Bryan’s contract expiring in six months, it did seem possible they’d make an exception. However, it’s now been confirmed by PWInsider that the listing was a mistake and the title was meant for an Eric Bischoff collection. So while it’s almost certain Bryan will eventually end up in the WWE Hall of Fame, it won’t be as part of the Class of 2021.

In June 2019, Vince McMahon made Paul Heyman an instrumental part of WWE by giving him the role of executive director of Raw. During that time, he gave several talent opportunities such as Andrade, Zelina Vega, Aleister Black, Murphy, Humberto Carrillo, Akam, and Rezar. Vince wasn’t overly impressed with this and replaced him with Bruce Prichard one year later.

It would be understandable if the former ECW boss were disgruntled with McMahon and WWE. However, he has stated there were no hard feelings, and it ended with a handshake and a hug. Now it’s been reported by Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio that Heyman’s contract could be set to expire soon, although he does think he’ll re-sign.

It’s hard to imagine WWE letting Heyman leave as he is too valuable in his role with Roman Reigns. You’d also think that when Brock Lesnar inevitably returns to WWE, a match will be booked between him and Reigns, with Heyman being instrumental to the angle due to his relationship with both. While some fans may think AEW signing Heyman in a creative role would be a masterstroke, the belief is Tony Khan is happy with his current creative process.

NBCUniversal now has the rights to the WWE Network in the United States and is currently moving the content to their Peacock streaming service. While fans were initially shocked at how long the process is taking, it appears the delay is because the content is being edited to meet 2021 standards. Yesterday we reported that WrestleMania VI had the match between “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown removed due to Piper painting himself half black. It’s now been discovered that Survivor Series 2005 has had Vince McMahon’s use of the N-word removed.

For those who don’t remember, McMahon interacted with John Cena backstage at the pay-per-view, and he’d use the phrase “My N*****” before power walking past a visibly stunned Booker T and Sharmell. It was clearly done so Booker T could say his “tell me he didn’t just say that” catchphrase, but it did attract controversy at the time. WWE defenders would justify the segment by saying it was clear McMahon was in character, and it was a scripted line like on other television shows.

Bruce Prichard, the Executive Director of SmackDown and Raw, discussed this segment during his Something To Wrestle With podcast last year and said, “I don’t think it holds up well,” and “different time, different place, different mentality.”

It will be fascinating to see what further edits are made before content is made available to stream on Peacock, considering how much of WWE’s archives are not acceptable by today’s standards. The Attitude Era alone, which featured Trish Stratus being forced to bark like a dog, choppy choppy your pee pee, and the Big Bossman being hung, will almost certainly end up heavily edited.

The WWE is airing its Hall of Fame ceremony on April 6 on Peacock in the US and the WWE Network worldwide. With last year’s event being canceled, both the Class of 2020 and 2021 will be inducted this year simultaneously, and WWE is still currently announcing names for the latter. Previously, both Molly Holly and Eric Bischoff have been revealed, and reports say RVD will be confirmed soon. With the event being three weeks away, WWE is now announcing more than one wrestler a week, and today officially announced two new inductees with both Kane and The Great Khali set to be part of the Class of 2021.

52-year-old Kane began wrestling in 1992 and first competed for WWE in 1993 in a dark match at Superstars TV taping. He would start regularly wrestling for WWE in 1995 and had the memorable yet unsuccessful gimmicks of Fake Diesel and Isaac Yankem, DDS, before hitting it big as Kane. As The Undertaker’s kayfabe brother, he held multiple titles, including the WWE Championship, World Heavyweight Championship, and Tag Team Championship variations with The Undertaker, Mankind, X-Pac, Big Show, Daniel Bryan, RVD, and Hurricane Helms. He now only makes occasional appearances for WWE since becoming mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, in August 2018.

The Great Khali gave up life as a police officer in India to travel to the US and become a pro wrestler. He’d first become known to wrestling fans in 2001 when New Japan partnered him with Giant Silva making them the tallest tag team ever with an average height of 7 foot 2½ inches. A role in the Adam Sandler movie The Longest Yard brought him to WWE’s attention, and he’d sign with Vince McMahon’s company in 2006. His career highlight came on the July 20, 2007, edition of SmackDown when he won a twenty-man battle royal for the World Heavyweight Championship. Initially, he was portrayed as a monster, but after suffering multiple high-profile defeats and the novelty of his size wore off, he was moved down the card.

Many fans remember him now for his comedy segments, including participating in dance-offs, dressing as a giant tooth fairy, kissing women from the crowd, and taking part in backstage food eating contests. He departed WWE in 2014 and since then has only wrestled a handful of times, with his last appearance being at 2018’s Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia. He is now involved in training the next generation of Indian wrestlers, which raised eyebrows when announced, considering he was never known for his in-ring ability.

Batista was announced for WWE’s Hall of Fame in December 2019 and due to be indicted as part of the Class of 2020. Due to the ceremony having to be canceled because of worldwide events, he was never officially inducted. WWE has now announced plans to air the 2021 ceremony on Tuesday 6th April, and both the Class of 2020 and 2021 are now set to be inducted at the same event.

However, over this weekend, it was noticed that Batista’s was no longer included on WWE.com’s official preview page despite all other 2020 inductees being listed. Plus, every other scheduled inductee had a Hall of Fame logo on their superstar bio page, but Batista’s didn’t. Now, Batista has confirmed what was expected and that due to previous obligations, he cannot participate. Understanding the situation, WWE has agreed to induct him at a later date.

For many wrestlers, a WWE Hall of Fame induction is the pinnacle of their career, but Batista is now a fully-fledged Hollywood movie star. His film commitments will always have to come first due to the amount of money movie studies invest. It’s good WWE can accommodate him, and thankfully for them, they still have the NWO to headline this year. Hopefully, he has already blocked out his diary for the start of April next year.

Peacock now has the distribution rights to the WWE Network in the United States, and this past Sunday’s Fastlane was the first pay-per-view, then streamed live. Currently, they are in the process of uploading WWE’s old content, something that has significant appeal to many fans. However, it appears old events will be subject to censorship as WrestleMania VI, which was just made available, has seen the match between Roddy Piper vs. Bad News Brown removed.

For those unaware, the near seven-minute match, which ended in a double DQ due to Piper refusing to put over Brown, featured Piper, who was portrayed as a babyface painted half-black against the African American Brown. It was bad taste at the time and now outright offensive. Surprisingly, Jakks would actually produce a limited edition action figure of Piper painted half black in 2007, which currently sells for over $1000.

It makes you wonder what was going through the minds of everyone involved, and it’s understandable why Peacock, who aren’t wrestling historians, would have a problem with it. It will be interesting to see how much content Peacock will eventually edit, considering WWE has featured lots of content, especially during the Attitude Era, which isn’t socially acceptable today.

Ethan Page’s debut for AEW at their Revolution pay-per-view on March 7, 2021, as the surprise entrant in the Face of the Revolution ladder match. It wasn’t totally unexpected as it was well known he was a free agent, having departed Impact Wrestling in November 2020. Though, he still appeared at their January pay-per-view in a pre-recorded comedic cinematic match of him vs. his alter-ego Karate Man. The match took place in front of a green screen, and following its airing, he would apologize to fans, saying he had no creative control and was taking a break from social media. You can judge for yourself by watching a clip below it was as bad as Page believed.

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With him being a television-ready talent, with fifteen years of experience and still in his early 30s, it was believed WWE was interested in signing him, although it isn’t known if an offer equivalent to AEW’s was actually made. However, during a YouTube Q&A session, he revealed that AEW was always his preferred destination due to the creativity they allow their performers.

Since signing a three-year contract with AEW, he has so far competed in the ladder match and appeared on Dynamite and AEW Dark: Elevation. It will be interesting to see where Page goes once he gets his first feud and where AEW positions him on the card.

The WWE is holding a ceremony that will air on Peacock in the US and the WWE Network worldwide on April 6. With last year’s event being canceled, both the Class of 2020 and 2021 will be inducted simultaneously, and WWE is currently announcing names. Only Molly Holly and Eric Bischoff have been confirmed so far, but more former stars should be coming soon.

Now, Fightful Select has reported that former WWE Champion and ECW original Rob Van Dam is set to be included. The timing makes sense as he is currently a free agent, having departed Impact Wrestling last year, and WWE is working on a documentary for him as part of their WWE Icons series. The WWE Network has aired a feature on Yokozuna with future episodes on The British Bulldog, Beth Phoenix, Lex Luger, and RVD planned.

Since leaving WWE in 2014, RVD has competed in around 65 matches. The majority have been for Impact Wrestling, which he claims paid him better than WWE did. Since the departure, he has also traveled the globe, competing on big independent shows in the UK, Italy, Australia, South Africa, Chile, and Qatar for seemingly huge money. However, it’s doubtful he’ll make an in-ring return for WWE as he now suffers from visual impairment from a head injury that occurred on November 12, 2016, while wrestling on an indie show. That and the fact he has stated he has suffered hundreds of concussions over his career, it’s unlikely he’d get medically cleared.