News Roundup - WWE urged to change Roman Reigns' WrestleMania 38 opponent, Major star deletes retirement post, Big Elimination Chamber botch revealed (February 20th, 2022)

Welcome back to another installment of the daily WWE News Roundup, where we list down all the top stories being discussed by the wrestling faithful.

Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar are all set to headline WrestleMania once again, but a former WWE Personality has come out and urged the company to rethink its creative plans, especially considering that another big name is slated to return soon.

A retired superstar also revealed the nixed plans for his Elimination Chamber return. One of the hottest free agents in wrestling dropped an unexpected retirement teaser before deleting the post amidst rumors of his arrival in WWE.

During a recent interview, a released talent also confirmed that she was informed about a significant storyline change on Twitter.

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#5. Vince Russo urges WWE to book Steve Austin's return match to be against Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar's WrestleMania 38 match has turned into a "Winner Takes All" Champion vs. Champion, and it is undoubtedly the most crucial bout on the entire show.

However, Stone Cold Steve Austin's rumored return is also an equally monumental moment, and speculation suggests that WWE has chosen Kevin Owens as the legend's opponent.

Vince Russo is not a fan of the idea as he feels Roman Reigns should ideally be the one to greet Steve Austin back into the ring. Russo said that WWE should push Steve Austin straight to the top if they intend on getting him back.

Additionally, the former WWE writer said the promotion could build a compelling storyline with Steve Austin and Roman Reigns, as he explained below on the latest "Writing with Russo" episode:

"First of all, it would be Roman Reigns [as Steve Austin's opponent]. Sorry bro, if Austin's gonna come back, he's gonna come back for all the marbles, Winner Take All, and it's the old 'If you're gonna beat me, then you're gonna have to kill me, bro.' It's bleeding during the Bret match. It's all that. Could that story be built? Absolutely, one thousand percent, and you would believe Austin is going to do it." [8:14-8:47] H/t Divesh Merani of Sportskeeda Wrestling

Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar will battle it to unify the WWE and Universal titles at WrestleMania, while Owens and Austin could engage in a clash of Stunners in The Texas Rattlesnake's first match in over 19 years.

However, has the company picked the right creative direction for what is shaping up to be one of the most significant WrestleMania events ever?

#4. Cody Rhodes deletes retirement post amidst rumors of his WWE return

News of Cody Rhodes' AEW departure came out of nowhere, and so did the rumors of his WWE return. What fans didn't expect to see, however, was a retirement tease from the American Nightmare.

Cody Rhodes dropped a massive and seemingly blatant hint at retiring from wrestling in a now-deleted Instagram story, as you can see below:

Rhodes' recent social media activity could all be a ruse, as the former TNT Champion was recently spotted at the Orlando airport. The reported plan is for Rhodes to film promos for his comeback at the WWE Performance Center, and as of this writing, the former tag team champion is on his way back to Vince McMahon's company.

Rhodes left AEW under controversial circumstances as multiple stories are circulating online regarding the reasons for his decision. The general belief is that Cody will get pushed handsomely upon his return as Vince McMahon is apparently thrilled to re-sign Dusty Rhodes' son.

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#3. WWE botched the finish of Roman Reigns vs. Goldberg

As predicted heading into Elimination Chamber, Roman Reigns defeated Goldberg in a brief match to retain his Universal Championship.

The Tribal Chief won with the guillotine as Goldberg passed out to the submission move.

However, Sportskeeda Wrestling's Phillipa Marie reported that the finish was not legal as Goldberg broke the hold by grabbing the ropes.

Goldberg pushed Roman Reigns towards the corner while in the guillotine, and he managed to hold on to the ropes for a second or two. Instead of splitting the two men up, the referee allowed the match to continue, and Reigns subsequently choked out Goldberg.

Here's a clip of the botched finish:

Reigns and Goldberg were given exactly six minutes at Elimination Chamber, and, unfortunately, the showdown had a flawed ending to top it off. Nonetheless, Reigns became only the fifth man to pick up a clean singles win over Goldberg, and he could also potentially be recognized as the man to retire the WCW legend if reports are to be believed.

#2. Tegan Nox was informed about her split from Shotzi Blackheart on Twitter

Tegan Nox recently appeared on Into The Danger Zone w/ Chris Denker and revealed some startling details about her time in WWE. The recently-released star was once tipped to win the women's tag team championship as she formed a fruitful alliance with Shotzi Blackheart on SmackDown.

However, WWE abruptly split up the duo during the Draft, and Nox admitted that the announcement caught her off guard.

"It was pretty difficult. Me and Shotzi got quite close during that whole stint. I was driving, Shotzi was in the seat next to me, and Toni [Storm] was in the back, and she said, "oh my god, you're on Raw, we're on Raw." Then she went, "wait, no, I'm still on Smackdown. They made a mistake."

Many stars aren't informed about the Draft plans in advance, and talents are often unprepared for the sudden shift in brands," Tegan Nox revealed.

Nox continued to talk about being in creative limbo in WWE and how she was surprisingly notified about her move to RAW on Twitter.

"No idea," Nox continued. "We were number one contenders for like 6, 7 weeks. We won, God knows how many number one contendership matches. But no, they didn't give us any indication. We just found out on Twitter." H/t WrestlingInc

Tegan Nox was released from her WWE contract in November, and she sadly left the company without making a single televised appearance on RAW.

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#1. Kurt Angle reveals WWE's nixed plans for his return

Kurt Angle finally issued a clarification on all the recent rumors about his return as he confirmed that he was never scheduled for a WrestleMania match.

The Hall of Famer revealed that there were talks for him to be the Special Guest Referee for RK-Bro vs. Alpha Academy at Elimination Chamber.

WWE originally wanted Angle to be a part of the tag team storyline for a few weeks, leading to a blow-off at the Elimination Chamber. Kurt Angle, who was also backstage at the Royal Rumble, stressed that he'd not signed a new deal with the promotion.

Angle revealed the following on his podcast:

"There are a lot of rumors going around that I was supposed to be booked for Wrestlemania 38, which is not true at all," Angle said. "If you saw the posts, a lot of people thought that I was talking about WrestleMania when I was talking about what I was going to do at the Royal Rumble and have the program for a few weeks. Then the blow off would be in Saudi Arabia, where I would referee the match between RK-Bro and Alpha Academy," stated Kurt Angle. H/t WrestlingNews.co

Did WWE miss out on an excellent opportunity to add some star power to its storylines by nixing Kurt Angle's return? Feel free to share your views on the stories from today's roundup in the comments section.