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Welcome to this week's edition of the WWE Rumor Roundup, where we look at the top WWE stories. Interesting updates emerged as WWE reportedly banned one Superstar from Saudi Arabia pay-per-view events and there is backstage news on a storyline WWE has been working on since 2016.
Also, Drew McIntyre commented on his WrestleMania match and more. Let's kick things off with the headline-makers of the day.
Roman Reigns was ready to quit WWE
Roman Reigns has revealed that he was ready to quit WWE because of the pandemic. During his appearance on the After The Bell with Corey Graves, Reigns spoke about the lengths he would do to protect his family.
The Big Dog was supposed to face Goldberg at WWE WrestleMania 36 but he had to pull out of the pay-per-view because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He took a break from WWE because his wife was expecting at that time but he recently returned to the ring. He said:
“A lot of things, to be honest. The most defined thought I had was that I made a lot of sacrifices on behalf of my family and this is one area where I'm not going to make that sacrifice. I will sacrifice my career, sacrifice a performance, I'll sacrifice the audience if I have to. To protect my family, I will quit. I'll hang up my boots. I've done everything that I needed to do in this business within sports entertainment/professional wrestling. There isn't a moment or accolade that I haven't had. Whether it was a WrestleMania moment all the way to a house show. I've experienced everything I could possibly experience. For me, it was about putting my family first and right there if I had to retire and that was what was going to be asked of me, I would do it. For one of the first times in a long time, I put my family first. They were 1A”
Roman Reigns returned at WWE SummerSlam right after the main event, which featured "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman. Reigns then gained a shot at the title at WWE Payback. He made the best of the situation as he regained the title he never lost.
Jey Uso will challenge the WWE Universal Champion, Roman Reigns, at Clash of Champions this Sunday.
WWE star Naomi undergoes surgery
Naomi has been off WWE programming for about a month, and the WWE Universe was not happy about it. However, we now have proper details as to why the former champion has been absent from WWE SmackDown in recent weeks.
Naomi revealed on her Instagram account that she had to undergo surgery. She had a myomectomy but she is already in recovery. Her post reads:
“In the midst of hurricane sally and Covid, I also underwent an unexpected 6 hr surgery to finally remove a massive fibroid that's caused me severe anameia fatigue, horrible abdominal pains and more problems I don't even want to mention over the past year and a half. I'm recovering well. I'm relieved and already feeling so much better. So family, friends and fans, don't worry, I'm ok lol. Miss ya”
WWE Universe was desperate to see her get a massive push. If there were any plans for her, they have been put on hold for now. She is expected to be out for some time, so we wish her a speedy recovery.
WWE planned for Alexa Bliss to work with Bray Wyatt in 2016?
Alexa Bliss is currently going through a character transformation, and the WWE Universe loves it. The former WWE women's champion has delivered Sister Abigail to both Nikki Cross and Lacey Evans on the last two episodes of SmackDown. This seems to indicate she is involved with "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt in some way.
She recently spoke to Metro where she revealed that she pitched something similar in 2016. Alexa Bliss added that it wasn't the right time then, but now things are working out.
"The original idea was when I first debuted, and it was kind of the same deal. I wanted to have some kind of involvement with this character because it's so good and so compelling. He commits fully into that and does so much research. He's so good at his craft, and who wouldn't want to work with someone like that? Here's the difference with where my head goes - I would go as far as we can with it. I would go completely in one direction and then change the direction. I would push the envelope as far as we can. It's just - do things work out that way? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. We just have to see where it goes."
Bliss heaped praise on Wyatt and we are expecting to see more character developments in the coming weeks on WWE SmackDown.
Drew McIntyre on beating Brock Lesnar without WWE fans present
Drew McIntyre defeated Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36 to claim the WWE Championship, but unfortunately, there were no fans in the arena at that time. The Scottish Psychopath broke the fourth wall to dedicate the win to his fans but he has admitted that the feeling of winning the title in an empty arena wasn't great.
In an interview with GQ Magazine, he said:
“When I won, the feeling of fighting Brock goes away and I’m just thinking: ‘Holy crap. I did it. I’m the WWE champion.’ There wasn’t a soldout audience roaring my name, it was complete silence. Usually when you win something the only time you get a moment’s silence is when you get back to the hotel. On this occasion there were no people going crazy, but it was a huge rush of emotions as I had this private moment with the title. I was just staring at it and thinking of everything I’ve been through.”
Drew McIntyre is still the WWE Champion and he is set to defend his title this Sunday against Randy Orton at Clash of Champions. Some reports suggest that he could drop the title at the event.
Sami Zayn has been banned from WWE events in Saudi Arabia?
WWE have held several pay-per-view events in Saudi Arabia, but Sami Zayn has never been featured on them. Several rumors suggest that the WWE Superstar has been banned from performing in the Middle East.
Sami Zayn, however, claims that there is no truth to this report, to his knowledge. On The Blindboy Podcast, the SmackDown star said that he never bothered about performing in the Middle East, and it became easier as WWE never invited him to perform there. (h/t POST Wrestling)
“To this day I didn’t really ask because I wasn’t really keen on going anyway. But WWE did a thing, a partnership sort of or signed some sort of deal to put on these shows in Saudi Arabia for I don’t know, what? Ten years or something like that, and I just wasn’t invited to go and I never really dug into it too much because I wasn’t keen on going to begin with, but I would like to discuss that for a moment because there is a certain amount… there’s a certain amount of… what’s the word I’m looking for here? You know, it became very popular, very easy to say, ‘Well you shouldn’t go to this country because they do these awful things’ and I understand it and I agree and if I was asked to perform in Israel, I wouldn’t, right?”
Sami Zayn will face AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy at WWE Clash of Champions in a ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship.
