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It's time to look at the latest news from the WWE Universe once again. It's been a big week and we have news on Brock Lesnar's future as well as a former WWE Superstar revealing his story of a backstage altercation with John Cena.
We also have WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns who spoke about the new direction for his persona this week. The Rock is also sending a video for former WWE IC Champion Ken Shamrock's induction into the IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Fame. We also have a possible time frame for Edge's return to the ring . To top things off, we found out this week that WWE are taking over Superstars' Twitch and Cameo accounts.
#7 Roman Reigns breaks character to open up about his new edgier persona in WWE
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns was recently a guest on the Load Management podcast. Reigns, who returned to WWE at SummerSlam, opened up about his edgier new persona:
I think, how do we deliver it in a different way as opposed to just, oh he’s a bad guy. He’s this nasty human being now. I wanted to be able to do it in layers. That way the character is not just defined as being a bad guy. He’s the guy who’s faced with these decisions. In my mind and in the character’s mind, he’s justified in what he’s doing so he’s technically not wrong, but maybe rubbing people the wrong way or is using a different route than what most people were used to seeing the old character take. H/T: WrestlingNewsCo
Roman Reigns is currently aligned with Paul Heyman on SmackDown and he reiterated during the same interview that he was not a Paul Heyman guy, and that it was actually the other way around.
#6 Edge’s potential WWE return date
Edge’s return at WWE Royal Rumble earlier this year was one of the best moments in the pay-per-view's history. Edge also competed at WWE WrestleMania and WWE Backlash and was injured in the latter. Edge underwent surgery for his triceps injury and has not wrestled since.
In a recent appearance on Busted Open Radio, Edge opened up about his injury status and gave an update on when we could see him back in a WWE ring:
I mean, I don't know. It's a learning process because I'm going to be 47 next month, so I didn't know how I heal from injuries, surgeries [and] things like that. It's a slow process. I'm not going to lie. The triceps is a different thing. I got back from an Achilles in six months, but I was 35 doing that, so at 10 plus years, I don't know. It's a different thing. You don't realize how much your triceps is involved in almost everything you do in terms of arm movement.
So, I don't know yet. I know it's a lot slower than I thought it was going to be because I just have this mentality of, 'Right. No big deal. Surgery, PT and we grind through it, we break down the scar tissue and off we go.' So, I don't know if it's the injury itself [or] if it's I'm a little older, I don't know what it is, but it's not as fast as I would've liked.
Well, we just haven't gone to explosive stuff yet. So, we don't really know. It's three months out, so I don't know. Maybe, I'm just impatient. I think it's really what it is more than anything. I just assume by three months, I should be almost ready to go and that's not the case. H/T: WrestlingINC
Later on in the interview, Edge spoke about which WWE Superstars he wants to face in the future. Two Superstars Edge said he was interested in facing were Mustafa Ali and Ricochet. The Rated-R Superstar added that a match against Seth Rollins was another that he was really interested in, saying that they had never cross paths in WWE.
#5 The Rock to induct Ken Shamrock into the IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Fame
Former WWE Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock is set to be inducted into the IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Fame this year. The Hall of Fame ceremony will most likely take place later this month around Bound For Glory.
Ken Shamrock sent The Rock a tweet asking him if he would send a video for the induction ceremony:
The Rock congratulated Shamrock and graciously agreed:
#4 Vince McMahon convinced John Morrison to sign with WWE over AEW
WWE SmackDown Superstar John Morrison was recently interviewed by Chris Van Vliet. During the interview, Morrison (who initially left WWE in 2012), spoke about his journey back to the promotion and how a conversation with Vince McMahon convinced him to sign with WWE over AEW:
When season four of Lucha ended, they had something on their contract where the tail doesn’t stop until the episodes stopped airing. And I’d signed with Impact. When everything was free and clear, I decided I’m a free agent again – I’m completely free, no ties anywhere. I’m going to figure out where I wanna go. I talked to WWE and I talked to AEW and I had a really good conversation with Vince. They made me a really nice offer and I ended up taking it.
John Morrison is currently on the SmackDown brand, teaming up with The Miz.
#3 Former WWE Superstar Tyler Reks opened up about a backstage altercation with John Cena
Former WWE Superstar Tyler Reks was recently interviewed by The Hannibal TV on YouTube. During the interview, Reks was asked about his issues with WWE legend John Cena. Reks told a story of his backstage altercation with John Cena and how Cena lost his cool backstage and told him to stop using his finishing move at the time, a Burning Hammer:
So, long story short, I'm using this for six months in front of Cena, literally in front of him and I get drafted to RAW and first week on the road we're doing a house show and I'm working Primo. It was me over, so I hit the Burning Hammer for the finisher. We're like third out, killer match. I go for the Burning Hammer and something happens in the process, Primo had never taken it, and he kind of went over sideways, looked kind of cra***.
I can see where it might have kind of infringed on Cena's FU a little bit so I come back through the curtain, thinking nothing of it, come back through the curtain and all the boys are there. Cena looks up, he's like 'Hey man, we're gonna have to get you a new finisher' and I was like 'sorry man, we'll get it right, we kind of screwed it up tonight and we'll get it right tomorrow. So I'm thinking that he's joking and given what I said, ' hey we'll get it right tomorrow, we kind of screwed it up, we'll be better', knowing that I did it in front of him many many times, he knows exactly what it is, next day we go to the next show and Primo's like 'Hey, should we change it?' and I said 'John Cena's saw me do it a million times, I think he was just saying get it right so it doesn't look like his FU'.
So we go out there and I hit it, hit it perfect, like sweet. Crowd goes..wild..whatever you want to call it. I walk back and he's there, like second I was back through the curtain. Within earshot of everybody on the roster, he's like, 'Hey, come here' and I go, 'hey, what's up,bro?' and he goes like 'Didn't I tell you to change your ****ing finisher?'. H/T: Sportskeeda
Tyler Reks went on to say that Cena followed this by continuing to belittle him. He said that all this happened in full view of everyone present backstage and made him consider quitting WWE.
#2 Superstars have to turn over their Twitch and Cameo accounts to WWE
As reported by Wrestling Inc, WWE are set to take control over Superstars’ Twitch and Cameo accounts. The report says that this will also apply to Superstars who use their real names on Twitch. A percentage of the revenue will be added to the downside guarantee of the said Superstar.
Vince McMahon recently sent an email to Superstars reminding them to sever ties with third parties. This follows the edict passed by Vince McMahon regarding third parties last month. Any Superstar who don’t comply could get fined, suspended or even fired.
WWE talent has reached out to former United States presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who previously criticised Vince McMahon’s edict. Here’s what Andrew Yang said on Twitter:
Hearing from talent that WWE is forcing performers to sign new contracts that include twitch. Streaming on twitch will become a work obligation and if talent doesn’t stream they will forego earnings, be suspended or face penalties. Doesn’t sound like independent contractors
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#1 Update on Brock Lesnar's future
Brock Lesnar's WWE contract expired earlier this year, leaving The Beast a free agent. Lesnar's merchandise was also recently taken off the WWE Shop. We now have a possible update on the former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar's future. There is a chance that we could see him in the UFC with Dave Meltzer saying while there is some chance of Lesnar returning to UFC, The Beast probably isn't too keen on it.
Here's what Dave Meltzer said in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
Jones did tease about going back down to light heavyweight and reclaiming the title after Blachowicz got the win, which just shows how it was more about not defending against Reyes than it was actually wanting to vacate the title. He isn't going to, because he is serious about moving to heavyweight and is actively taking the steps to gain weight to compete there, knowing his big money fights are against Stipe Miocic, Francis Ngannou, and, even though it is a huge longshot but also a never-say-never situation, Brock Lesnar.
Even though there is an outside chance of a big-money fight for Brock Lesnar in UFC, we don't know if Lesnar will be interested in returning to the Octagon at this time.
