Roman Reigns was a recent guest on the Loaded Management podcast and discussed the possibility of a big-money match against CM Punk. Reigns confirmed he’d be prepared to wrestle Punk, but admitted he doesn’t like him and doesn’t know many people who do.

Unless WWE makes CM Punk a considerable money offer, it’s unlikely we’ll see him in a WWE ring again. Punk’s relationship with WWE is very complicated, and he reportedly only got involved with WWE Backstage because the contract was with Fox. However, as we’ve seen countless times over the years, anything can happen in pro wrestling, and Reigns vs. CM Punk would be a huge attraction.

Randy Orton has been getting his tattoos inked by Illinois tattoo artist Catherine Alexander since 2003. She is responsible for his tribal tattoo on his upper back and his full sleeves. In 2009 she asked WWE for financial compensation as WWE was using her artwork, and after being laughed at, was offered just $450 for the rights. She declined, and in 2018 filed a case against WWE and Take-Two Interactive Software, who are the parent company of 2K Games, for copyright infringement.

Now US District Court Judge Staci Yandle has reviewed the case and determined that Take-Two Interactive Software, the publisher of the WWE 2K video games, had indeed used her designs. Therefore it will now be up to a jury to determine if copyright infringement did take place. A big part of the issue will come down to whether Alexander gave Orton an implied license, including sub-licensing rights. Randy Orton himself has stated in a declaration that he believed the tattoos to be his personal expression and was not made aware he’d need additional permission. WWE and Take-Two are also using fair use as a defence.

Earlier this year, Take-Two Interactive Software won a similar case based on the tattoos designs used on NBA players LeBron James, Kenyon Martin, and Eric Bledsoe. In that case, the judge felt the tattoos weren’t similar enough to the actual tattoos on the players as they were between 4.4% and 10.96% of the size that they appear in real life, and the player’s movements during games make them difficult to discern. Plus, there was a reasonable inference of an implied license, and fair use.

In 2015 James Storm was very close to signing with WWE. He’d appear twice on NXT, once in October and once in December, and was victorious both times. WWE decided to offer him a contract, but it was reportedly for less than $100,000 a year for between 100-125 shows. He instead opted to re-sign with TNA for significantly more money and fewer dates. He and his wife were about to have another child, and the opportunity to be home more with guaranteed money was too good an offer to turn down. However, it certainly created a “what if” situation, considering the success his former tag partner Robert Roode had in NXT.

Now it’s been revealed in an interview with Pro Wrestling Sheet that back in January this year, WWE reached out again to Storm, as Paul Heyman, who was the executive director of Raw at the time, wanted to bring him in. Storm was signed with the NWA, but Billy Corgan said he’d let him out of his contract early so he could finally fulfill his WWE career ambitions.

Storm was scheduled to debut on Raw after WrestleMania 36 as long as he passed his medical and even got new gear made. Then worldwide events changed the entire wrestling landscape, and everything was put on hold. Since then, WWE has made mass roster cuts, and Heyman, who was behind WWE’s interest in Storm, was dismissed from his role. Storm is now out of contract with the NWA, and his last contact with WWE was in July, meaning his career hangs in limbo on whether WWE will or won’t follow up on their initial offer.

After the three male members of Retribution main evented Raw last week, the group was expected to feature prominently going forward. However, the stable was noticeable by their absence at Clash of Champions. However, thanks to a tweet by Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet, we now know that T-BAR, Mace, Slapjack, Reckoning, and Retaliation didn’t make an appearance because they are all currently isolating.

We don’t know when the two weeks commenced, but it does mean all five principal members will miss the next two episodes of Raw. Fans will need to watch the show tonight to see how WWE deals with their absences.

Rob Van Dam returned to Impact Wrestling at their United We Stand show in April 2019, where he competed in an extreme rules tag match with Sabu against The Lucha Bros. He impressed management with his performance and was offered a contract. Six months later, his partner Katie Forbes joined him in signing with the company, and she would go on to wrestle a handful of times and acted as his valet. During this run, their most memorable moment was a risqué segment involving themselves and another woman in bed, which resulted in Impact Wrestling’s Twitch channel being briefly banned.

Now though, the duo has parted ways amicably with the promotion and are free agents. Specifics regarding why the pair departed have not been revealed, but RVD has claimed Impact were paying him better than WWE did in the past, so it could be for financial reasons. His final match for the promotion aired on September 22 and saw him defeat Sami Callihan.

A return to WWE isn’t likely for RVD, as he now has a 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 doubtful the 49-year-old would get medically cleared.

During the Street Profits vs. Angel Garza and Andrade match for the Raw tag team championships at last night’s Clash of Champions pay-per-view, Garza was legitimately injured. The injury appeared to occur when Garza connected with a knee strike to Montez Ford, and it’s speculated that he either tore his quad or suffered a hip injury. If it was a torn quad, he would likely miss considerable time.

Due to Garza being hurt, the decision was made to end the match early. Seemingly though, this wasn’t communicated to the wrestlers in the ring because Andrade kicked out after Dawkins hit him with a powerbomb variation, but the referee counted three regardless. The plan was always for the Street Profits to retain the belts.

Earlier today, The Rock endorsed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for the upcoming presidential election, and in the process, upset many people. One of those is former WWE wrestler Val Venis who took to Twitter to claim The Rock had sold his soul, and that he would no longer spend money on his movies.” He also made some outlandish claims, as you can read below.

Val Venis has very publicly shared his political beliefs over the years and even named one of his dogs Nixon, after Republican President Richard Nixon. Venis considers himself a libertarian, and as these tweets demonstrate, he is a steadfast conspiracy theorist.

During the September 11th episode of SmackDown, Nikki Cross defeated Alexa Bliss, Tamina, and Lacey Evans in a four-way match to become the #1 contender for the SmackDown’s Women’s Championship. She was due to challenge Bayley at the Clash Of Champions pay-per-view tonight, but that match is now off.

Rumors began to circulate when Cross missed SmackDown on Friday, and it’s now understood she is not backstage. With the event being based on the concept that every championship is defended, it’s believed Bayley will now face an alternative opponent. Why Cross is unable to wrestle has not been confirmed, but the fact her husband, Killian Dain, was not at NXT, has lead to speculation they could both be isolating. Curiously though, despite knowing that Cross would not be available days ago, WWE has continued to promote the match, even posting a tweet earlier today hyping the match.

Also, there have been rumors that the WWE Women’s tag match between defending champions Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler and the Riott Squad is also off. No reason why has been reported, and Shayna Baszler posted on Instagram an hour ago her ring gear for tonight, so seemingly the change isn’t related to her, and she is still competing.

Joseph Laurinaitis, known to the wrestling world as Road Warrior Animal, tragically passed away on September 22nd at the Margaritaville Resort (formerly known as the Tan-Tar-A Resort) in Osage Beach, Missouri. He was there celebrating his wedding anniversary. Not much was known about his passing other than it being natural causes, but now Pro Wrestling Torch columnist Bruce Mitchell has revealed that Animal was suffering from heart and kidney issues.

Gramma B’s was a biker bar in Northeast Minneapolis where former pro wrestler Eddie Sharkey was bartending. He recruited many of the bouncers to become pro wrestlers who included Animal, Hawk, Rick Rude, The Bezerker, Smash, Nikita Koloff, and Scott Norton. Of the group, three are now sadly no longer with us, all seemingly for heart-related issues, which can be a side effect of taking high doses of steroids.

Ryback is currently in training for a comeback after being out of the ring for the last two years with a back injury. It isn’t known which promotion he will soon be calling home, but based on his tweets from last night, a WWE return isn’t likely. He was replying to fans asking him about WWE’s business and didn’t hold back, as you can read in the below replies.

The changes of Ryback going back to WWE in the first place were very slim as he is currently fighting them over the trademark for his name. However, numerous wrestlers we never thought would step back in a WWE ring have returned over the years. Ryback, though, might have burnt that bridge for good.

As for thinking the world will be a better place when Vince McMahon passes, he may have some time to wait for that to happen, as McMahon told Kurt Angle he plans to live until he is 105.

2020 has been a very up and down year for Tessa Blanchard. She was accused of racism and bullying, won the Impact World Championship, was fired by Impact Wrestling, married Mexican wrestler Daga and had a six-month absence from the ring. She has now taken to Instagram to update her fans, informing them she had been focusing her wedding during her time away, and also address allegations of being a racist.

Blanchard returned to the ring on September 12th, where she dropped her Warrior Wrestling Women’s Championship to Kylie Rae. We now await where she will end up wrestling fulltime, with it rumored WWE has interest.