5 WWE backstage stories we learned this week: WrestleMania main-eventer wants to return soon, legend challenges Vince McMahon

Following last week’s season premieres of RAW, NXT and SmackDown, WWE has now turned its focus to the 2019 draft and the upcoming Crown Jewel event.

As of the time of writing, the biggest headlines from the draft have involved Becky Lynch (RAW’s #1 pick) and Roman Reigns (SmackDown’s #1 pick), while WWE held a Crown Jewel press conference in Las Vegas on Friday to announce that Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez and Braun Strowman vs. Tyson Fury will take place in Saudi Arabia on October 31.

Off-screen, meanwhile, it has been another busy week for WWE personnel outside of the ring, as various current and former Superstars have been having their say on their careers and other wrestling talking points during interviews and podcast appearances.

In this article, let’s take a look at five of the most interesting backstage stories that have been revealed over the last seven days.

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#5 Ronda Rousey has pitched ideas for her return

Ronda Rousey broke her hand in the main event of WrestleMania 35 and, with the exception of Total Divas, she has not appeared on WWE programming since.

Despite being moved to the ‘Alumni’ section of the company’s website, the former RAW Women’s Champion is still looking to return to in-ring competition, according to Triple H, and she has even been pitching storyline ideas for when she comes back.

"She said to me multiple times, 'It was like the family I never knew I was missing, and the group of friends and the environment I never knew I was missing.' I think she misses that greatly. She's constantly with us, and she's constantly pitching her return. So, if I had to guess, it would be sooner rather than later, but who knows?" [H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcription]

It remains unclear how soon “sooner” could be, but it is worth remembering that WWE originally planned a blockbuster match between Rousey and Becky Lynch at Survivor Series 2018 and it had to be cancelled due to Lynch suffering a broken nose.

A one-on-one match between the two women has still never happened, so is it too far-fetched to believe that we could see it at Survivor Series 2019?

#4 Hulk Hogan asked Vince McMahon for one more match

We often hear speculation about The Rock and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and whether either of the WWE legends could return for one more match, but what about Hulk Hogan?

The WWE icon mentioned on an episode of Steve Austin’s podcast earlier this year that he is in pain most days due to the number of injuries that he suffered throughout his wrestling career, so it was safe to assume that he had no plans to ever make a comeback.

However, now aged 66, “The Hulkster” spoke to the Los Angeles Times this week and shockingly revealed that he has spoken to Vince McMahon about having a retirement match in WWE, as he does not want his final match to have been for Impact Wrestling.

"I talked to Vince, and I said I really don’t know if I could live with myself knowing my last match was with TNA [January 2012]. If I can get fixed, I pray I can have one more match. I told Vince, `When I get through this back surgery, I’m going to get in the best shape of my life and we’re going to talk about me having one last retirement match."

Hogan added that, should this dream become a reality, he wants his final match to be against McMahon.

"I’d love for it to be against Vince, I had such a great time with him in the ring at WrestleMania 19."

#3 What really happened between Goldberg and Matt Riddle

Goldberg legitimately knocked himself out during his match against The Undertaker at Crown Jewel in June 2019. The rest of the match, which ‘Taker won, was full of uncoordinated moves and mistakes, and many fans called for the WWE Hall of Famer to retire after the show.

However, he instead decided to make a quick return by facing Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam in what turned out to be a destructive squash match.

Much of the talk surrounding Goldberg after SummerSlam revolved around Matt Riddle, as opposed to the victory over Ziggler, as the NXT Superstar said on WWE’s SummerSlam ‘Watch Along’ that he met the WCW legend before the show.

This week, a WWE Network documentary showed the footage of Riddle – one of Goldberg’s biggest critics – coming face-to-face with the former Universal Champion outside his own personal locker room.

Just as Riddle said at SummerSlam, the footage showed that he really did walk right into Goldberg and repeatedly call him “Bro” during their brief conversation.

Goldberg, who joked in an interview earlier this month that he does not know who Riddle is, told the NXT star that he is willing to talk to him “any time” and mentioned on two occasions that he is not his “Bro”.

#2 How Roman Reigns feels about fans turning against Seth Rollins

From 2015 to 2018, Roman Reigns regularly received boos from audiences, despite his status as the top babyface in WWE.

In 2019, it appears as though that position on the roster has now gone to WWE’s latest top good guy, Seth Rollins, who has been jeered by fans on a regular basis in recent weeks.

The negative reactions were at their worst last week at Hell In A Cell, where thousands of fans booed again and again as they watched Rollins deliver 11 stomps to “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt in the show’s main event.

Speaking to Sports Illustrated this week, Reigns addressed the fans’ reactions to Rollins, saying he is “proud” of his fellow Shield member, especially after he conquered “The Beast” Brock Lesnar for the second time at SummerSlam in August.

"I was so proud of him and what he did at SummerSlam against Brock Lesnar. He obviously had one of those weeks where the Twitter machine and the internet went nuts on him, but he bounced back and answered the call."

Reigns vs. Rollins kicked off the October 11 episode of SmackDown and ended in a disqualification victory for Rollins following interference from underneath the ring by "The Fiend".

#1 Andrade was nervous meeting Ric Flair

It is common knowledge amongst wrestling fans that Andrade and Charlotte Flair have been dating for several months.

This week, “El Idolo” discussed his relationship with the 10-time Women’s Champion during an interview with Digital Spy.

The former NXT Champion revealed that he was "so nervous" to meet Ric Flair for the first time and he originally did not want Charlotte to tell her father that they had started dating.

"When we first met I was seriously so, so nervous. Now I'm so happy. I love Ric Flair. He's a great person with me, he talks, texts me, sometimes we have dinner. He's great with me now. When we first started [dating] I asked Charlotte, 'Please don't say nothing to your dad', and she said, 'No it's my dad, he won't care.'"

Andrade added that he and Charlotte are concentrating on their singles careers in WWE at the moment, but he believes it would be a “great idea” if the company’s decision-makers paired them up to compete in the Mixed Match Challenge tag team tournament one day.

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