WWE 2K20 was a total mess of a game. On the day of release #FixWWE2K20 was trending with fans complaining the game was taking a long time to load, regularly crashing, had worse graphics than previous years, and was filled with bugs. It seemed to stem from the fact Yuke’s who were WWE’s long-time game developer were no longer making the game, and instead, 2K was handling it in-house. Despite that, it did still come as a surprise that when during WWE’s earnings call, it was confirmed there would be no WWE 2K21 game produced. It’s an awful lot of money to miss out on, but seemingly everyone involved realized the brand had been damaged, and they couldn’t create a game up to the standard required to repair it. Shortly after the confirmation, 2K would post on social media they had an announcement to make. That announcement would end up being the reveal that they’d be working on a brand new WWE title for release this fall titled WWE 2K Battleground. It’s been developed by Saber Interactive, who are the studio behind NBA 2K Playgrounds, and much like NBA 2K Playgrounds, the game appears to be an arcade-style game and is similar to 2011’s WWE All-Stars. The teaser trailer below shows John Cena about to be eaten by a crocodile! It isn’t known what platforms the game will be available on, but with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X expected to launch around the same time as WWE 2K Battleground, this may be the first wrestling game on the next-generation consoles.

It would be easy to assume that Triple H and Chris Jericho don’t like each other. The pair competed for a significant portion of their careers for the same few top spots in WWE, and now are key combatants in the AEW vs. NXT Wednesday Night Wars. That though does not appear to be the case, as Jericho has sent Triple H a heartfelt message following him achieving the extraordinary feat of 25 years in the WWE.

Jericho would say on his Twitter and YouTube channel:

The rivals wrestled with each other over 100 times, including tagging together on occasion. The most historically significant contest being the main event of WrestleMania 18. The last and likely final time they were in the ring together was a six-man tag match at New York house show in March 2017. The match saw Jericho team with Finn Balor and Sami Zayn to defeat Triple H, Kevin Owens, and Samoa Joe in the main event.

Since leaving WWE, Cody Rhodes has been going just by his first name Cody on television, and when accompanied by his wife would be introduced as “Cody and Brandi Rhodes.” Now though, it seems Cody Rhodes is about to retake ownership of his name.

On April 13th, the same day the WWE let the trademark officially lapse, he would file an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the name ‘Cody Rhodes.’

Cody was fine going just by his first name, but did want his handed-down surname back, as he told Sports Illustrated in 2017:

The issue with his name has been confusing for some time because Cody was born Cody Runnels but says he changed it legally at the age of 17 to Cody Rhodes. That claim though has been disputed. Regardless WWE would go on to register the name in June 2007 shortly before Cody debuted with the company.

Thankfully for Cody, it seems the issue is soon to be resolved, which is great for his family’s legacy.

Recruiting Oliver Luck as XFL Commissioner was quite an achievement for Vince McMahon’s XFL reboot. Luck was previously the president of NFL Europe, athletic director for West Virginia, and served as a top executive in the NCAA. His appointment made fans and the sports media not write off the league as a rerun of a bad joke from the start.

But it turns out that the day before the XFL filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware, McMahon actually fired Oliver Luck. Now Luck is suing Vince McMahon personally for the rest of the money owed on his $20 million five-year contract. It’s now in the hands of the lawyers and will be fascinating how it plays out, especially with such a large amount involved.

The XFL 2.0 ended up costing McMahon hundreds of millions of dollars for what amounted to four-weeks of football, and despite the coronavirus being the official reason for the league folding, the ratings were averaging 1.4 viewers million in by the end of week 4, meaning it was unlikely the XFL would have survived with numbers like that regardless.

The Rock’s last match was against John Cena 7 years ago at WrestleMania 29 (unless you count his six-second win over Erick Rowan at WrestleMania 32), and it was believed his in-ring days were behind him. He tore two tendons in his pelvis in the Cena match, and it caused him issues with his filming schedule and movie insurance cost increases.

So it was somewhat of a surprise that during a Q&A session on Instagram Live last night, he discussed the possibility of wrestling Roman Reigns and didn’t just instantly dismiss it. He would say:

You can watch the clip from his Instagram Live Q&A below.

While it’s just wishful thinking at the moment, but after a lackluster WrestleMania 36 due to the coronavirus, what better way than the in-ring return of The Rock at WrestleMania 37 to reaffirm WrestleMania as the world’s pre-eminent wrestling event?

On April 15th, WWE mass released numerous wrestlers for budgetary reasons, with both Luke Gallows and Ken Anderson included. It seemed a strange choice considering they had just taken part in night 1 of the WrestleMania 36 main event along with AJ Styles and been featured on Raw regularly. The decision seems to have been because the pair were earning $750,000 a year each, having signed new deals when WWE was concerned about keeping talent away from AEW. That kind of pay put them on Vince’s radar.

AJ Styles, who was the leader of The O.C. stable was obviously upset at the news two of his closest friends were released and commented about it on his Mixer channel saying:

It’s expected that once their 90-day non compete clause is up, and coronavirus pandemic is over, Gallows and Anderson will likely return to New Japan where they had great success as part of the Bullet Club previously.

WWE announced earlier today on WWE.com that legendary ring announcer Howard Finkel had passed away at the age of 69. The cause of death wasn’t revealed, but he had been in bad health following a stroke and recently had been seen in a wheelchair.

The Fink as he was affectionally known is regarded by many as the greatest ring announcer of all time and was honored by McMahon by being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009, and also has the distinction of being Vince McMahon’s first official employee.

Finkel was beloved by both fans and those in the industry, and Twitter is full of tributes to the great man, including those from Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, and our own Chris Jericho you can read below.

Saddened to learn of the passing of my friend and WWE’s first employee, WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel. The grandest moments in sports-entertainment history were made all the grander thanks to Howard’s iconic voice. pic.twitter.com/aAMY2XaHsm

— Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) April 16, 2020

Howard Finkle was on Team Hogan through the good and bad times,even when I was on the outs Howard would call on a consistent basis to tell me to always keep my head up,it was” never say never” and “you and Vince will work it out”,my good friend RIP,I love you 4LifeHH

— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) April 16, 2020

Thanks Howard….for being the best wrestling ring announcer in history, a great employee for the @WWE, a good guy and a loyal lackey! Hopefully you’ll announce my entrance into the great unknown when I join you some… https://t.co/qQ7gdbhpAR

— Chris Jericho (@IAmJericho) April 16, 2020

Howard Finkel had the voice and presence to make any match feel more important, and any wrestler that had Howard Finkel announce them had indeed made it in the wrestling industry. RIP Howard.

WWE has announced on WWE.com that Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Kurt Angle, Rusev, Drake Maverick, Curt Hawkins, EC3, Lio Rush, Eric Young, Aiden English, Heath Slater, Sarah Logan, Referee Mike Chioda, Erick Rowan, Primo, Epico, Zack Ryder, No Way Jose, Mike Kanellis, Maria Kanellis, Deonna Purrazzo, Aleksandar Jaksic, and Norman Smiley (Performance Center coach) have all been released from their contracts.

Not listed in the WWE.com article but believed to have been furloughed include road agents and producers Shane Helms, Lance Storm, Billy Kidman, Mike Rotunda, Dave Finlay, Pat Buck, Shawn Daivari, Scott Armstrong, and Sarah Stock.

It’s understood all were released following an all company call with Vince McMahon earlier today. On the call McMahon announced reducing executive and board member compensation, decreasing expenses, furloughing employees, releasing talent, and deferring spending on their new HQ.

A portion of Twitter was offended last night following a racially tactless comment made by commentator Jerry “The King” Lawler during a match between Akira Tozawa and Austin Theory. When Tozawa hit a senton, Lawler would call it a “Ramen Noodle Moonsault,” as Tozawa is Japanese, and shortly after, the WWE Hall of Famer began trending on Twitter.

One comment on social media said, “did Lawler just do a Cornette?” in reference to Jim Cornette making a fried chicken joke on NWA Powerrr, which resulted in him resigning from the promotion. Cornette himself would later go on Twitter tweeting the below.

So now people are mad at @JerryLawler for telling a joke. Now I understand why modern wrestling sucks, because most modern wrestling fans are such whiny little pussies they don't DESERVE good wrestling. How do these people go out in public without breaking out in tears? #WHINE

— Jim Cornette (@TheJimCornette) April 14, 2020

Regardless of whether you consider the line to be tone-deaf, or agree with Cornette, WWE themselves did decide to edit the remark out of future replays of the match on Hulu and YouTube.

In news that won’t make Vince McMahon or Triple H happy, The Rock has confirmed he watches AEW. He would reveal this during a Q&A session on his Instagram, saying:

In the past, The Rock has tweeted out that he had watched Billy Corgan’s NWA Powerrr YouTube debut, so it shows he is still a fan of the business and keeps on top of everything going on despite his Hollywood success.

A WWE employee who is believed to be an on-screen talent but not a wrestler and their roommate tested positive for COVID-19 following WWE’s WrestleMania and TV tapings. They supposedly had exposure with two health care professionals, and it’s beloved this is where they caught COVID-19. The employee’s identity has not been confirmed, but it is likely to be an announcer, referee, or interviewer, who following being in quarantine, is feeling much better.

Despite this worrying news, they say they did not have any contact with other WWE employees after diagnosis, so WWE is continuing to produce content from the Performance Center, including a live episode of Raw this upcoming Monday. WWE’s contracts with NBC Universal and Fox require the majority of shows to be live, seemingly even during a pandemic. The exact number of required live shows is not publically available, but 49 per year has been mentioned for Raw.

Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson, known initially as The Mechanics, and then The Revival have received their WWE releases. The team has twice previously requested their release but were turned down both times. WWE even offered them a five-year contract renewal, but they rejected it.

The pair were the only ever Tag Team Triple Crown Champions having held the Raw (x2), Smackdown (x1), and NXT (x2) tag championships, but haven’t been on TV since the January 31st SmackDown.

Both wrestlers have updated their social media accounts, confirming their new names. Dash Wilder (real name Daniel Wheeler) is now Cash Wheeler, and Scott Dawson (real name David Harwood) is now Dax Hardwood. Based on trademarks the pair are in the process of acquiring it is expected their tag team name will be either Top Guys or Shatter Machine.

The pair seem certain to sign with All Elite Wrestling, and it’s believed there is no 90-day non compete clause, but with AEW having taped TV for 6+ weeks, it isn’t likely they will appear before the Double or Nothing PPV on Saturday 23rd May at the earliest.