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In today's roundup, we take a look at the offer that could have brought Kenny Omega to WWE and why Asuka and Kairi Sane turned on Paige. Before that, we have some backstage news on the WWE Superstars' reaction to pay-per-views in Saudi Arabia and also Sami Zayn talking about the time he mentioned AEW on WWE TV.
Let's start with the two headline-makers of the day:
Former WWE Champion to return in 2020
Jinder Mahal is currently out of action following knee surgery and is recovering well. The former WWE Champion was talking to Fan Buzz when he revealed that he wouldn't be returning to the ring this year.
The Modern-Day Maharaja last worked for WWE in June when he was up against Ali in a house show. He has since then taken time off to get the surgery done and is likely to be back only for the Royal Rumble.
Talking about his knee surgery to talkSPORT, Mahal said:
“I had knee surgery a couple of months ago. So I’m just recovering, resting and now with WWE 2K20 releasing soon, that’s going to be apart of my recovery! I’m going to play as Jinder Mahal, and I’m going to scout my opponents. I’m going to face Brock Lesnar in the video game, so when I come back and face him in real life, I’m already going to have a game plan.”
Backstage News on Alexa Bliss' status
Nikki Cross is set to face Bayley for the SmackDown Women's Championship, and the question WWE Universe is asking right now is – “Where is Alexa Bliss?”
Her best friend is set to face Bayley for the title, and the former champion is nowhere to be seen. Sportskeeda's Tom Colohue has now provided an update and said that she is on a break right now as she was not needed in the storyline.
Corey Graves on WWE Superstars' reaction to PPV in Saudi Arabia
WWE have their next pay-per-view, Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia this week, and there are a lot of exciting matches announced. Brock Lesnar is set to take on Cain Velasquez for the first time in WWE while another first time ever match will see Braun Strowman go up against Tyson Fury.
Corey Graves was talking to Sports Illustrated when he revealed how the WWE Superstars felt about the PPV taking place in the Middle East. He said:
"It's a long, gruelling trip over there, but most of the talent like it because it's a pretty good pay day. To me, it's super exciting to have these totally unusual attractions like Cain Velasquez-Brock Lesnar and Tyson Fury-Braun Strowman. If you take any sort of political feeling out of the equation, aren't you, as a fan of WWE, aren't you curious and excited to watch these attractions?"
There are a few Superstars like Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens and John Cena who have refused to go to the Middle East to perform.
Sami Zayn on mentioning AEW live on WWE TV
Sami Zayn stunned the WWE Universe by mentioning AEW live on WWE TV back in May. It happened during Monday Night RAW right after the newly formed promotion's PPV on Sunday.
There was a lot of speculation if the promo was scripted or if he had cut an unscripted promo in the ring. Sami has now hinted that it was his own idea and not something that was approved backstage. He told Catch-Newz:
"No no. It really was not a big story besides what was on the internet. Basically, the goal of the segment was a small new segment that we were trying for people. An unscripted thing. I knew that if we say 'AEW' like that, people would talk about it.
"That's exactly what happened. As you see, nothing really happened after I said that. It was done once, and nothing happened...It was a small segment of a time, it was the goal, to have people talking about it," he said.
The mention of Tony Khan's promotion has not happened ever since on WWE TV.
Why Asuka and Kairi Sane turned on Paige
Asuka and Kairi Sane were managed by Paige ever since they became a tag-team. But lately, Paige has not been on WWE TV and the two Superstars have become the WWE Women's Tag-Team Champions in her absence.
The former NXT Champion returned to Monday Night RAW last night but was hit with the green mist by Asuka. It was clear that the tag team were no longer in need of Paige as their manager.
Talking about the storyline on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said:
I mean it may have just been a way to try and get them more heel heat because everyone is cheering them at the house shows. And they turned. I mean even in Australia they cheered them against the IIconics, who were the local women. The Kabuki Warriors have been cheered at every house show. So they needed to do something because they are supposed to be heels even though there are probably few people in the entire company better suited to be babyfaces than Kairi Sane. So, that's that.
The offer that could have landed Kenny Omega in WWE
WWE were chasing Kenny Omega for some time, but the former NJPW star never signed for them. Earlier this year, he was a free agent, and it was widely speculated that WWE and AEW gave him a stunning offer.
Omega finally signed for All Elite Wrestling, leaving the WWE Universe stunned. Talking about the offer that could have possibly landed Omega in WWE, Dave Meltzer said:
"I'm not sure anything would have worked for sure. I think if they would have promised him a WrestleMania match that was going to go 35 minutes with AJ Styles and offered him more than 3 million a year, I think they would have had a chance. Maybe even a good chance. I don't know how close he came, but he was in fact, very impressed and very interested in their offer."
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