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We are back with another exciting WWE News Roundup to look at the top stories that recently made headlines. Plans for a SmackDown women's feud were nixed earlier this year.
Roman Reigns spoke about his current Universal Champion reign. Meanwhile, former WWE stars Peyton Royce (Cassie Lee) and Billie Kay (Jessie McKay) delivered significant updates on their pro wrestling futures.
Not too long ago, Paul Heyman gave his take on Brock Lesnar's potential WWE return. Also, Monday Night RAW's new play-by-play commentator has reacted to his WWE signing via social media.
With that in mind, let's dive straight into the latest WWE News Roundup.
#5 WWE scrapped plans for Sasha Banks and Natalya's SmackDown Women's Championship feud
Sasha Banks was the WWE SmackDown Women's Champion on the road to WrestleMania 37. At The Show of Shows, she lost the title to 2021 women's Royal Rumble winner Bianca Belair.
Recently appearing on Renee Paquette's Oral Sessions podcast, Natalya revealed that she was supposed to feud with Banks for the SmackDown Women's Championship earlier this year. However, those plans were nixed after Belair won the 30-woman Royal Rumble contest.
“I was supposed to go into a rivalry with Sasha Banks earlier this year and everything changed when Bianca won the Rumble," said Natalya. "I was so excited about wrestling Sasha because I think she’s one of the greatest women’s wrestlers in the world, if not the best."
Although Natalya seemed enthusiastic over a title feud against Sasha Banks that didn't end up happening, her husband, TJ Wilson, encouraged The Queen of Harts to pitch a tag team stint with Tamina.
"I had all these ideas and we were training together and Sasha lit this fire in me. Then I had this new fire in me of teaming with Tamina," Natalya added. "TJ was the inspiration behind it."
Natalya and Tamina recently became the new WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions.
Meanwhile, Sasha Banks is being advertised to appear in the July 16th edition of SmackDown, which happens to be the show that will kickstart WWE's return to live touring.
#4 Roman Reigns compared his and Brock Lesnar's WWE Universal Championship reigns
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns is at the top of the mountain on SmackDown right now. His current and second reign with the title has lasted more than 260 days thus far, having defended the belt on 11 occasions since winning it last year.
Meanwhile, Reigns' previous run with the title was cut short when he was re-diagnosed with leukemia in 2018. That 63-day reign saw him defend the Universal Championship three times.
In a recent interview with WWE Now India, Roman Reigns put over his current Universal Championship reign. He mentioned how Finn Balor's injury and Brock Lesnar's part-time status had negatively affected the title.
“It’s really put this Universal Championship on the map because when we debuted it a few years ago, it kind of struggled, and the title reigns weren’t what we had hoped for,” Reigns said. “There were a lot of injuries and then there’s a lot of gripes about once Brock Lesnar, who had a pretty long and illustrious title reign… but he wasn’t quite as active as some of our hardcore and dedicated fans had hoped. But what I’ve done over the past plus 30 weeks I think is second to none, and we’re just gonna continue to add to that legacy and really set this apart from everybody else.”
Throughout Brock Lesnar's two-and-a-half-year run in the Universal title picture, he held the championship three times. The Beast Incarnate only fought in 13 Universal Championship matches on WWE television during that period.
#3 Bille Kay and Peyton Royce want to stick together after their WWE releases
Now going by the names Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay, Peyton Royce and Billie Kay are mostly renowned for their tag team run in WWE as The IIconics.
The Australian duo was forced to break up in August 2020, and both stars subsequently embarked on singles runs before being released by WWE on April 15, 2021.
Recently appearing on the Busted Open podcast, Peyton Royce and Billie Kay elaborated on their post-WWE plans, saying they definitely want to move forward as a duo.
"Yes! We definitely want to stay together. We want to move forward together. We're just most comfortable together and we can play off each other so easily," said Royce. "We don't even have to talk about what we're gonna do. We just go out there and it comes naturally to us because we have so much history together. So we definitely want to move forward together."
Billie Kay agreed with her partner and said their goal is to highlight women's tag team wrestling.
"Yeah, we definitely want to stay together and I think like we would love to work for any other company and just we feel like we could help a tag team division at whatever company we choose to go with," said Kay. "We feel like that's somewhere that we can help. We still love tag team wrestling. That was our goal all along, to really build tag team wrestling and women's tag team wrestling up. So we would love to do that at any company."
In your opinion, which pro wrestling promotion would benefit the most from The IIconics' presence? Sound off in the comments section below.
#2 "Maybe he has been waiting for the live events" - Paul Heyman on Brock Lesnar's potential WWE return
During Brock Lesnar's previous match, he lost the WWE Championship to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 36. Lesnar hasn't made any appearances for Vince McMahon's promotion since the event, as his WWE contract expired soon after.
Live crowds are set to return from July onward, and fans are wondering if The Beast Incarnate will resurface in WWE soon.
Brock Lesnar’s former on-screen advocate, Paul Heyman, recently addressed this topic in an interview with Houston radio station SportsTalk 790. Heyman dropped a hint that Lesnar might have been waiting for live crowds to return all along. However, he didn't confirm anything and also expressed that, at the end of the day, "Brock Lesnar does what Brock Lesnar wants to do."
“Asking me about Brock Lesnar is a highly intelligent question and I commend you on your efforts,” Heyman said. “However, it’s a hypothetical. Brock Lesnar does what Brock Lesnar wants to do. If Brock Lesnar wanted to be back in WWE at this moment, at this particular time and place, he would be. Maybe, maybe he has been waiting for the live events, and maybe he’ll choose Houston to make that return… or maybe not, because Brock Lesnar is going to do whatever Brock Lesnar wants to do.”
If Brock Lesnar does indeed return to the land of wrestling entertainment soon, a dream match against current WWE Champion Bobby Lashley would be a highly newsworthy development.
#1 Jimmy Smith's reaction after being confirmed as WWE RAW's new play-by-play commentator
A few days ago, WWE and Adnan Virk mutually agreed to part ways. Soon after, WWE announced that former UFC and Bellator commentator Jimmy Smith would replace Virk as the Red brand's play-by-play announcer.
Apart from hosting and commentary roles, Smith started his professional career as an MMA fighter in 2003 and earned a record of five wins and one loss.
WWE RAW's new announcer recently tweeted that he will try his best to honor the fans and in-ring competitors. Jimmy Smith stated the following with regards to his new WWE job:
"Hey guys, well it's been a busy day. Apparently WWE liked my work so far. I know I'm stepping into a new world (I WAS a Mr. Perfect and Bruiser Brody fanatic however) but know I'll do everything I can to honor the athletes and fans. Watch Monday and judge my work for yourself."
Jimmy Smith has served as an analyst for NXT in the past, and fans are now looking forward to what he can offer on Monday Night RAW.
Stay tuned to Sportskeeda for more WWE news and updates.
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