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With the WWE Royal Rumble is just a matter of days away, this edition of the News Roundup takes a look at 11-time world champion Edge's big announcement on WWE RAW as well as Charlotte Flair predicting a massive surprise entrant in the women's Royal Rumble match.
We also take a look at John Cena's new look as well as a look at plans for WrestleMania 37. We also have a couple of stories from former WWE writer Vince Russo. Also on the Roundup, we have an update from Stephanie McMahon on Ronda Rousey's WWE status. Stephanie McMahon also gave a massive update of one of the most anticipated dream matches in recent years.
#8 Edge will return at WWE Royal Rumble
Edge appeared in a pre-taped episode of RAW last Monday night, announcing that he will be returning in the men’s Royal Rumble match this Sunday. Edge has been out injured since his match against Randy Orton at Backlash last year. The Rated-R Superstar picked up a triceps injury and then underwent surgery to re-attach the triceps muscle to the bone.
Edge is set to make his return in the men’s Royal Rumble match on Sunday. Although it’s a little unlikely that he will win the match, it could be used to set up his next feud heading into WrestleMania season.
#7 John Cena shows off new look
According to recent reports, John Cena looks set to be a part of WrestleMania 37 in April. Ahead of a potential WWE return, John Cena recently showed off a new look in a commercial for Experian, a consumer credit reporting company. You can check out the full commercial below:
John Cena’s last WWE appearance came at WrestleMania 36 where he faced The Fiend in a Firefly Fun House match.
#6 WWE WrestleMania 37 could be a 'parade of former stars'
It looks like WWE WrestleMania 37 will feature a number of former Superstars, both in matches as well as special appearances. This is something WWE has repeatedly relied on at WrestleMania in recent years and it looks like the pattern is set to continue.
A source told SK Wrestling that WrestleMania could be a 'parade of former stars'. Here’s what Lennard Surrao of SK Wrestling reported:
SK Wrestling has learned from an inside WWE source that this year's card will reportedly have several veteran Superstars. The WWE has found out that older and established Superstars are producing more and better results than the younger talent in terms of fan recognition and merchandise sales.
WWE is following a tried-and-tested pattern of getting back part-timers for big matches and special appearances. It was noted that this year's WrestleMania would be a 'parade of former stars'.
John Cena is already set to feature at WrestleMania 37, according to reports. With Goldberg competing at Royal Rumble, he will probably be competing at WrestleMania too.
You can check out our original report HERE.
#5 Charlotte Flair has predicted a surprise entrance for the women's WWE Royal Rumble match
Charlotte Flair won the 2020 women’s WWE Royal Rumble match and will be looking to win it again this year, as she pulls double duty at the Rumble. Flair will be defending her WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship alongside Asuka before entering the women’s Royal Rumble match.
Speaking on a recent WWE media call, Charlotte Flair made a big prediction for the women’s Royal Rumble match. The Queen predicted that we could see NXT Superstar Rhea Ripley make a surprise debut in the women’s Royal Rumble match:
"I think every year the Royal Rumble gets more difficult due to how deep and experienced the division gets. Now you have Bianca Belair on SmackDown. Now Bayley doesn’t have a title, so she’ll be in the Royal Rumble. RAW side, you have a repeat, Shayna, and then I don’t know whether or not she’ll be entering, but I could see Rhea Ripley making a surprise entrance."
Rhea Ripley defended the NXT Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 36. The match was won by Flair.
#4 Vince Russo not happy with how Goldberg was booked on WWE RAW
Goldberg was on RAW this week, ahead of his WWE Championship match against Drew McIntyre this Sunday night at Royal Rumble. Goldberg confronted Drew McIntyre before the duo took out The Miz and John Morrison. Goldberg hit The Miz with a Spear and McIntyre followed it up with a Claymore Kick to John Morrison.
Former WWE writer Vince Russo was not happy with how the company booked Goldberg on RAW. Speaking on SK Wrestling’s Legion of RAW podcast, Russo revealed why WWE made a mistake with how Goldberg was booked on Monday night:
"You physically have Goldberg there. When we're looking at this show, up and down, two pieces to this show... there are only two pieces that mean anything. The Goldberg piece and the Edge piece. So you've got these two pieces, you don't have Edge there but you have Goldberg there."
"Bro you gotta build the show around these two pieces. If Goldberg's there, that's how this entire show has to be built. Listen, they just signed a billion-dollar deal, it can't be about saving money. They could have teamed Drew-Goldberg and Miz-Morrison, you've got to use the guy. You can't have him appear in the first... think about this, he appeared on the first five minutes of the show and then we had a six woman tag for 40 minutes."
Drew McIntyre will defend the WWE Championship against Goldberg at Royal Rumble. If Goldberg wins, he will become the oldest WWE Champion of all time at 54 years and 35 days.
#3 WWE is ‘hopeful’ of a Ronda Rousey return
During a recent interview with TMZ Sports, WWE’s Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon opened up about a potential return for former RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey. McMahon said that Ronda Rousey is focusing on starting a family right now. She added WWE was still hopeful that Rousey will return to the ring:
"Well, you know, Ronda's been very public that she would like to start her own family and you know, once she does that, our doors are absolutely open, our arms are open. We are very hopeful that Ronda will come back home to WWE."
Could we see Ronda Rousey make a surprise return at Royal Rumble? While Rousey is taking time off now, she could still be open to a short run between the Rumble and WrestleMania in April.
Ronda Rousey’s last WWE match was at WrestleMania 35. Rousey main evented the show along with Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch with both the RAW and SmackDown Women’s Championships on the line. Lynch won the match to leave 'Mania as a double champion.
#2 Vince Russo recently revealed that WWE offered him a major role in creative in 2002
Vince Russo recently spoke to SK Wrestling’s Lee Walker and during the interview, opened up about meeting Vince McMahon in secret in 2002 about a return to WWE’s creative team. Russo said Vince McMahon offered him a role overseeing WWE RAW and SmackDown:
"Let me explain exactly what happened. I was meeting with Vince [McMahon] in secret, nobody knew. Stephanie was in charge of creative, Stephanie didn't know I was meeting with Vince. This was around 2002 when the product really started to nose dive. I laid out all my creative to Vince and he loved it. He loved it. Vince offered me a contract and we agreed on money and everything else, the deal was done. So now I say to Vince, how are you going to break this news to the rest of the company. What are you going to do Vince? Vince says to me, 'I'm not going to break the news to them'. There was a PPV that weekend and Vince said 'you're just going to show up at the PPV and I'm going to let everybody know that you are now overseeing RAW and SmackDown'."
However, in the end, Russo’s return to the WWE creative team fell through. According to Russo, he was buried in front of Vince McMahon after he left a creative meeting. Vince McMahon ended up offering Russo a role as a consultant instead. Russo turned down the offer and signed with TNA Wrestling as head writer instead.
#1 Stephanie McMahon gave an update on a possible match between WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and The Rock
WWE's Chief Brand Officer Stepanie McMahon recently spoke to the folks over at TMZ Sports. During the interview, Stephanie McMahon was asked about a possible match between The Rock and Roman Reigns. She said that this was a 'phenomenal story' that the company wanted to tell at some point and added that she hoped to see it play out in WWE one day:
"I suppose that there's any chance that we're working on anything at any time, to answer your question. It would be a phenomenal story to find out who truly sits at the head of the table, you know, when you think about The Rock and his family and Roman Reigns and his family and you know, just the heritage and the lineage throughout our business of that family, right, huge story and I hope we see it play out one day."
There was talk last year of a possible match between Roman Reigns and The Rock at WrestleMania 37 but they have died down in recent months.
If any quotes are used from this article, please be sure to add a H/T to SK Wrestling
