WWE’s showcase event is less than three weeks away, and the card is now starting to take shape following Fastlane. While most of WWE’s top stars have matches booked, or will have following this Friday’s SmackDown, Charlotte Flair is not among them. She was going to face Asuka for the Raw’s Women’s Championship, but yesterday revealed the reason she has been absent from television is that she is recuperating at home following a positive test result. With her unable to participate in the build, WWE has now announced that Asuka will wrestle Rhea Ripley, who debuted on this week’s Raw instead for the title. It hasn’t yet been 100% confirmed Charlotte won’t be on the show in some capacity. However, her father Ric Flair tweeted out earlier that WrestleMania won’t be the same without her, seemingly indicating she won’t appear either night. If Charlotte does indeed miss this year’s WrestleMania, it will be the first time she hadn’t wrestled at the event since 2015, when she competed at WrestleMania Axxess instead. All of her previous WrestleMania appearances have seen her compete in featured matches for one of WWE’s three women singles titles. So that run will be over unless she recovers enough to be added last-minute to Asuka vs. Ripley.

Charlotte Flair’s name has been in the news recently following her removal from the promotional material for WrestleMania 37, landing the lead in the Walking Tall remake, and her fiancé Andrade requesting his WWE. It was believed that Charlotte missing last week’s episode for Raw was related to one or both of these events. However, she has tweeted she has been out due to a positive test result. Andrade would later tweet, stating that she has four more days to left to stay home.

WWE’s plans for Charlotte at WrestleMania remain unknown, with the event less than three weeks away. She was initially going to face Lacey Evans, but after it was announced she was pregnant, that angle was dropped. Then she moved onto apparently face Asuka for the Raw’s Women’s Championship, but the build was stop-start and plans changed with Rhea Ripley making her Raw debut. Instead, the Australian will now challenge Asuka for the title at WrestleMania.

If Charlotte misses this year’s WrestleMania, it will be the first time she hadn’t competed on the show since 2015, when she was still in NXT and wrestled on WrestleMania Axxess. In all of her previous WrestleMania appearances, she has competed for one of WWE’s women championships, so that run is over unless she is added to Asuka vs. Ripley.

Andrade is no longer a WWE superstar, having been officially released from his contract on Sunday. He’d requested his release earlier in the month but was initially turned down. However, things obviously changed, with some speculating it could have been due to his fiancée Charlotte Flair getting involved. Regardless of the reason for WWE’s change of heart, he is now free to begin planning the next chapter of his career with many exciting options open to him.

Interestingly, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported that the former NXT and United States Champions release did not include a non-compete clause. This is highly unusual, and the standard duration is 90 days. This now means he could appear for AEW or any other promotion immediately. It isn’t known why WWE waived this, but it adds credence to the claims that Charlotte may have spoken up.

Earlier today, the free agent took to Twitter and thanked Triple H, Paul Heyman, and William Regal for their support during his time working for WWE. Noticeable by its absence was Vince McMahon’s name, who was behind Andrade being taken off television. The belief is McMahon saw so little in him that he didn’t even send him back to NXT.

What is next for Andrade remains to be seen, although Tony Khan has previously expressed an interest in the former Zelina Vega, who was partnered with Andrade in WWE, so they could be brought in as a ready-made package. Vega, who now goes by Thea Trinidad, has herself acknowledged Andrade’s release, tweeting earlier today that he is one of the talented people in the business and will be successful no matter what. If Andrade does ultimately join AEW, he would be able to compete under the name Andrade as it is his real name. Alternatively, he has the trademarks for “El Idolo” and “La Sombra,” his ring name, before joining WWE.

Former NXT Champion Andrade requested his WWE release when he was backstage at the 8th March episode of Raw. WWE would later reject the request despite not having used him since October 2020 and Vince McMahon reportedly not seeing much in him. Their likely concern was he would join AEW, and they would utilize him much better than they had.

Andrade would go on to publicly acknowledge his release request on Twitter, thanking fans for their support and saying he wants to make his dreams come true. It was thought WWE would make him sit out his contract, however, on Sunday night, WWE.com announced he had been granted his release. This came after Andrade had posted “Good news!!!! Buenas Noticias!!! #Tranquilo #Happy” on Twitter earlier in the day.

Details of his release are not public knowledge, but usually, in cases like this, a 90-day non-compete is included, although potentially WWE could have put limitations on where he can work until the date his contract was set to expire. We will likely know more come the end of June when he starts taking bookings.

AEW’s Tony Khan has previously stated he is interested in the former Zelina Vega, who was partnered with Andrade in WWE, so it seems a no-brainer to bring them in together as a double act. If Andrade does ultimately join AEW, he would be able to compete under the name Andrade as it’s his real name. Alternatively, he has the trademarks for “El Idolo” and “La Sombra,” his ring name, before joining WWE.

It isn’t known if Andrade’s relationship with Charlotte Flair played any part in him getting his way. As previously, WWE had forced unhappy wrestlers who wanted out of their deals to wait much longer. Flair was surprisingly absent from last Monday’s Raw and was removed from promotional graphics promoting WrestleMania at the end of last week, so it is possible something was going on behind the scenes.

Daniel Bryan’s WWE contract expires later this year, and he has previously made it known he no longer intends to be a full-time wrestler. While he has stated he never intends to retire fully, he is now involved in SmackDown’s creative direction and is behind Cesaro and Apollo Crews’ pushes. So given that, many people believe he may decide to concentrate on that aspect of the business. However, in a new interview, he has discussed several wrestlers he still wants to face, and a number of them don’t work for WWE.

For some of those matches to have any chance of ever taking place, Bryan would need to leave WWE, so he will have a big decision to make over the next six months. However, if he does make that decision, Bryan Danielson would be welcomed with open arms into any wrestling promotion in the world.

Six-time world champion Batista was announced for WWE’s Hall of Fame in December 2019. He was scheduled to be indicted as part of the Class of 2020, but due to the ceremony having to be canceled due to worldwide events, he was never actually inducted. Earlier this month, WWE announced plans to air the 2021 ceremony on Peacock in the US and worldwide on the WWE Network on Tuesday 6th April, and both the Class of 2020 and 2021 are set to be inducted at the same event.

However, Batista’s involvement and induction is now being called into question. He is not mentioned on the WWE.com official preview page despite all other 2020 inductees being listed. Plus, every other scheduled inductee has a Hall of Fame logo on their superstar bio page. You can see JBL’s page as an example of this, while Batista’s page is lacking the Hall of Fame logo.

It isn’t known why Batista may not be going into the Hall of Fame, but given the ceremony is expected to be done virtually, he may have opted to wait until he can be inducted in front of a live crowd. Alternatively, his movie schedule could be preventing him from participating, given WWE’s announcement was short notice. If he is no longer scheduled to be inducted, it will be interesting to see if he gets included next year or has to wait even longer to take his place among wrestling’s all-time greats.

Second-generation wrestler Randal Barry Orton, the son of Bob Orton, brother of Bob Orton Jr., and uncle of Randy Orton, sadly passed away on Friday, aged just 62. Wrestling fans will best remember him as WWF enhancement talent Barry O, and as of writing, details surrounding his cause of death remain private.

Orton actually worked two runs for Vince McMahon’s promotion, with the first being during the mid-80s. This came to an end due to Orton getting involved in a car crash that saw his female passenger die. Due to being drunk behind the wheel, he would be sentenced to four years in prison but only served two. His second run would come during 1990 and lasted through March 1991.

His most significant in-ring success would come during his time in Stampede Wrestling in Canada in 1987. He competed there as The Zodiac, which was a tribute to his father, who wrestled under that name in Florida in the 70s. Despite being an enhancement talent previously for WWF, he did receive a push with this gimmick and had victories over both Chris Benoit and Brian Pillman, who were in the early stages of their careers at the time.

His 15-year pro wrestling career pretty much came to an end after departing the WWF for a second time as he was a whistle-blower during the sex scandal that hit the company in the early 90s. Although he did briefly compete again for a small promotion called World Organized Wrestling which let his nephew Randy referee matches aged 12. After that, he’d leave the business for 19 years before returning in 2011 to compete in a Legends Battle Royal put on by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. This would end up being his final match.

Charly Caruso, whose real name is Charly Arnolt, became a prominent part of WWE’s presenting team once Renee Young departed the company last year. However, her tardiness resulted in her being late for interviews with Randy Orton and Sheamus and got her backstage heat. Once Vince McMahon found out he’d take all her on-air duties taken away, and the belief is her five-year run with WWE will come to an end when her contract expires shortly,

Now, during Talking Smack, Paul Heyman, a man never afraid of saying something provocative, took a shot at Caruso’s situation while insulting Kayla Braxton. He’d do so by telling the host that “we got rid of the wrong female journalist around here.” You can watch this for yourself below.

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As of writing, Caruso has not publicly commented on her WWE status. She may remain in wrestling due to having a friendship with AEW’s Tony Khan dating back to before either was involved in the wrestling business. However, she does have vast experience working as a sports anchor for multiple FOX affiliates and as a journalist for an NBC affiliate. Plus, since 2018, she has also worked with ESPN, sometimes appearing on First Take, and currently co-hosts a podcast for them.

The WWE Hall of Fame ceremony is rapidly approaching, and both the Class of 2020 and Class of 2021 are set to be inducted on Tuesday, April 6. While last year’s class has been established for some time, names are just being announced for this year, with only Molly Holly and Eric Bischoff so far revealed. Now though, the WWE Network may have accidentally spoiled another induction as they captioned a Daniel Bryan section as 2021 WWE Hall Of Fame Inductee. @HeelByNatureYT would manage to capture a screenshot earlier today before WWE removed the text within the hour, and you can view this below.

It’s possible this could have just been an error by someone working updating content on the WWE Network, especially since Bryan’s wife Brie Bella is being inducted herself as part of 2020’s class. However, the timing could be appropriate as Bryan only has six months left on his current WWE contract. With him already involved in the creative side of SmackDown, he may plan to get more immersed in that side of the business.

Bryan is currently set to headline Sunday’s Fastlane pay-per-view when he challenges Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship, with Edge as a special guest enforcer. Although, it is believed to be a foregone conclusion that Reigns retains as WWE have internally been planning for Reigns vs. Edge at WrestleMania 37 since the Royal Rumble.

New Japan’s annual New Japan Cup is currently taking place, with today being the semi-finals. Also on the card was a star-studded six-man tag match with Jay White, KENTA, and Yujiro Takahashi taking on Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, and Kota Ibushi. However, during the match, a powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit Sendai, Miyagi, and shook the actual arena during the match. You can watch this for yourself in the video below.

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The show was delayed for around 30 minutes for safety checks, and the wrestlers would pose for fans to help fill the time for those in attendance. Once the match resumed, Ibushi pinned Takahashi after a further seven minutes of in-ring action.

This is not the first time a New Japan show has been affected by an earthquake this year, as the promotion recently had to cancel a Road to Castle Attack event in February due to an earthquake in Fukushima the previous week.

In news that could end up being much ado about nothing, Charlotte Flair has been removed from some of WWE’s promotional material for WrestleMania 37. Initially, she was pictured between Edge and Roman Reigns, but the updated graphics being used have her missing. It could simply be that a graphic designer took it upon themselves to make a change. However, it may indicate that the 12-time women’s champion is no longer set to prominently feature on the show.

Charlotte was expected to face Lacey Evans at the event, but due to her pregnancy, the angle was dropped, and it was expected she’d instead face Raw Women’s Champion Asuka. Asuka had missed two weeks of Raw due to a concussion, so the storyline between the pair was put on hold, although with Asuka returning this week, it was Charlotte who was noticeable by her absence.

Under ordinary circumstances, this wouldn’t be a story, but the timing is interesting with her fiancé Andrade recently requesting his release from the company due to not being used in months. WWE declined this request, likely due to concerns he’d sign with AEW, and it’s hard to imagine Falir being happy with the situation. It should be noted that Charlotte has previously made her preparations for her life away from WWE as in 2019, she trademarked “Ashley Flair,” a combination of her real name and her wrestling name.

An alternative and less conspirational reason for Charlotte’s absence could be related to the news she has just landed the lead role in the latest Walking Tall remake. With reports saying the plan is to have the two-hour movie air on the USA Network, with the possibility of it becoming an ongoing series. This production is connected to WWE Studios and likely why she was chosen for the role.

We reported earlier in the week that Charly Caruso, a backstage interviewer who hosted Raw Talk and PPV pre-show panels, was in the dog house with the company. She was late for backstage interviews with both Sheamus and Randy Orton, and the news got back to Vince McMahon. When WWE’s head honcho found out, he took her off television and gave her on-air duties to new signing Kevin Patrick. Now, PWInsider.com has reported that Caruso is not expected to return to WWE television again, and her contract isn’t going to be renewed.

Caruso, whose real name is Charly Arnolt, got involved in the wrestling business after attending a SmackDown show in 2016 that AEW’s Tony Khan got her tickets for. She would meet WWE’s Senior Director of Talent Relations Mark Carrano and got a job as a ring announcer for NXT after Brandi Rhodes requested her release.

While her friendship with Khan will likely result in speculation she could join AEW, she does have options away from wrestling. She has previously worked as a sports anchor for multiple FOX affiliates and as a journalist for an NBC affiliate. Plus, since 2018, she has also worked with ESPN, sometimes appearing on First Take, and currently co-hosts a podcast for them.