Author: Anutosh Bajpai

A lot of things are expected to change in WWE with Vince McMahon\’s retirement. One of them could be their reconciliation with Sasha Banks and Naomi.

Dave Meltzer talked about the former women\’s tag team champions during his appearance on Sports Illustrated Media podcast. He revealed that the company is expected to make attempts to bring the duo back:

“It’s kind of up in the air. They’re gone, the last I heard was that there would be attempts made to reconcile, especially with Vince gone. So, it’s up in the air. I don’t think there’s anything definite just yet.”

Sasha Banks and Naomi

Sasha Banks and Naomi infamously walked out of WWE before the May 16 episode of Raw. They were unhappy with some creative decisions as well as the treatment of the women\’s tag titles.

Numerous reports have suggested since then that Banks has gotten her WWE release. Her asking price for post-WWE appearances has also been revealed.

• Sasha Banks Spotted With WWE Star (Photo)

There has been no update on the future of Naomi. She has been posting inspirational messages on social media, but there is no word on what she is planning.

With the team of Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, and Nick Khan being at the helm of WWE, it\’s very much possible that the former champions may agree to a comeback.

Vince McMahon was notorious for being a workaholic and not taking any time off before his retirement. The one time he did take a holiday, the wrestling veteran came up with the biggest spectacle of the wrestling business, according to Becky Lynch. Adam\’s Apple on YouTube recently caught up with The Man.

When asked about her favorite Vince McMahon story in light of his retirement, Becky recalled the time she asked the boss about taking Holidays:

\”Probably, I sat down with him [and asked] \’Hey Vince, you ever take any time off?\’\” recalled Becky Lynch, \”He\’s like \’Well, one time I took a holiday and I was lying on the beach. I couldn\’t relax. Then I came back and I said you know what we\’re gonna do? We\’re gonna do a big event. It\’s gonna be like the SuperBowl and we\’re gonna call it WrestleMania.\’ I was like \’Well Vince, I think you should take more Holidays.\’\”

• WWE Legend Stopped Becky Lynch From Leaving the Company

Apart from this, Lynch was also asked about her favorite match. Replying to it, she said that currently it’s the WrestleMania 38 bout against Bianca Belair.  She mentioned how they stole the show at the Grandest Stage Of Them All and got people talking.

Becky Lynch is currently scheduled to face Bianca Belair at SummerSlam in a WrestleMania rematch for the Raw Women\’s Championship this Saturday.

If you use any quotes from the article please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription

Shark Week is all about celebrating the majestic kings of the sea, and The Rock is getting involved in more than one way.

The 34th annual Shark Week began on July 24th, with Discovery intending to take the week-long event to the next level after their recent acquisition of WarnerMedia.

The Great One was brought into the mix with the same intention. The Rock is hosting the show this time, replacing Josh Gates from last year.

The Rock Reacts

Atlantic White Shark Conservancy recently revealed on Twitter that they have named a Shark after the People\’s Champion. The Shark had an injury on his dorsal fin, but the conservancy\’s research team oversaw the healing process.

The Rock responded to this news mentioning how we don\’t see such injuries in sharks very often. The Hollywood star also noted that he would want to meet the creature named after him someday:

\”That’s a gnarly injury we don’t often see on the apex predator. Good to see the recovery! I’d be honored to meet #TheRock? one day. Thanks for the tweet.\”

Shark Week premiered on Disney back in July 1988. Its primary goal was to eradicate the fear of Sharks among people who had seen Jaws movie franchise. It has become an annual phenomenon since then.

• The Rock Praises WWE Star As ‘The Whole Package’

The Undisputed WWE Universal champion Roman Reigns returned on Raw this Monday night and dropped a big reference during his promo.

The Bloodline showed up during the second segment of the show. Paul Heyman started hyping up The Tribal Chief\’s upcoming title defence at SummerSlam.

Though he could not conclude his talk, as Theory interrupted the wise man. Mr Money In The Bank told Reigns that he will win both the US championship and the Undisputed world title at SummerSlam.

The Head Of The Table invited Theory to the ring, and he told the young star that he should look around and analyse the situation before saying anything.

Roman Reigns then told Theory \’you\’re daddy is not here anymore,\’ referencing to former WWE chairman Vince McMahon retiring from the company last week.

The segment ended with Reigns leaving the ring with others. You can check out the full segment from Raw below:

Theory had been involved in a storyline with Vince McMahon since last November. The retired Chairman had been projecting the young star as the next face of the company.

Roman Reigns is set to defend his title against Brock Lesnar at the SummerSlam PPV this Saturday, July 30. Theory is going to challenge Bobby Lashley for the US title on the same show.

• WWE RAW Results (7/25/22): Roman Reigns & Theory, Seth Rollins Attacks, Rhea Ripley Returns, Rey Mysterio

Gunther signed with WWE in 2019 and helped put the NXT UK brand on the map with his 800+ days long reign as the NXT UK champion. He then had a short run in NXT 2.0 before being called up to the main roster in April this year.

The former NXT UK star appeared on Out of Character podcast recently. He discussed the difference between the behind-the-scene environment of NXT and main roster. The Intercontinental champion claimed that things are more \’relaxed\’ on the main roster:

\”I think at the end of the day when it comes to what happens in the ring, wrestling is wrestling. For me at least it doesn\’t matter if it\’s in front of 50 people or if it\’s in front of 20,000 people. Obviously [the major] difference is all the happenings around it. there are way more people involved [in the main roster]. A lot more stuff has to happen in a shorter amount of time.

It\’s not too different, but it\’s obviously just NXT is a little bit [more] strict and organized.\” said Gunther, \”Because the people involved are less experienced, I will say, like the talent and stuff. While it\’s a little bit more relaxed I would call it on SmackDown in my experience. Everybody\’s way more experienced and can get all the stuff done. Like tick, tick, tick, tick, one after the other. Everything has its little routine. It\’s a little bit more relaxed in terms of nobody\’s really tensed or freaked out about what they have to do. \”

You can check out Gunther\’s full interview below:

More Originals From SEScoops:

• Gunther Reveals Unique Reason He Did Not Want To Move To America
• Sami Zayn Tells Amazing Story Of How He Started In Wrestling
• The Undertaker Approves of WWE’s Return to TV-14
• Cody Rhodes Reveals Best Part Of His ESPY Win
• Claudio Castagnoli On Moment With Jake Hager During Blood And Guts

If you use any quotes from the article, please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription

It\’s pretty well known that Gunther did not want to move to America for a long time. According to the WWE star himself, it was also about timing things right to make himself stand out.

The current Intercontinental Champion recently appeared on Ryan Satin\’s Out of Character podcast. Speaking about his decision to move continents, Gunther discussed how he still prefers the European lifestyle. He then talked about how he started back in 2005 and saw the wrestling landscape change:

\”I think I started in 2005, looking back at the steps wrestling made [since then], like changing and developing. Then out of nowhere the gates were open for so many young wrestlers from Europe to actually go to WWE or wrestle other places and be seen and be successful.\” said Gunther, \”It felt a little bit like a gold rush.

He continued: \”So everybody obviously just jumped on every opportunity they had. Sometimes it\’s better to just wait things out and wait out the timing a little bit. I always felt like if everybody moves to America at the same time, it\’s not gonna be as special when I do it. It was always clear to me that it will happen at some point but I tried to time it as good as possible for myself.\”

More Originals From SEScoops:

• Sami Zayn Tells Amazing Story Of How He Started In Wrestling
• The Undertaker Approves of WWE’s Return to TV-14
• Cody Rhodes Reveals Best Part Of His ESPY Win
• Claudio Castagnoli On Moment With Jake Hager During Blood And Guts
• Madcap Moss Recalls Disastrous WWE Tryout

If you use any quotes from the article, please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription

This Friday\’s SmackDown saw an abrupt change in the Maximum Male Models storyline. NXT star Sofia Cromwell debuted as Maxxine Dupri, with reports suggesting that Max Dupri was done with the group.

We have an update on the situation and the future of the character played by the former LA Knight.

Per Fightful, the whole angle was Vince McMahon\’s idea and he had taken a particular interest in the storyline. The boss even came down to the ring to produce the Maximum Male Models debut segment which doesn\’t happen often.

The former WWE chairman had a distinct vision for how Max Dupri would sound. McMahon worked with Max quite a bit on it. He said that he wanted the character to sound nothing like Knight.

Both Mace and Mansoor were on board with the angle, but LA Knight had some reservations. He said to have \’ruffled some feathers with a couple of scripts\’ and challenged what the writers had come up with.

Though despite the report that the decision was made a couple of weeks ago, Max Dupri was unbooked on last minute. Other people involved in the segment weren\’t given any concrete information on his status.

A source said that Vince McMahon retiring from WWE is the best thing that could have happened to Knight. He still has supporters in WWE that enjoy his work, and the door isn\’t closed for the decision to be reversed.

Vince McMahon held the keys when it came to WWE creative for over 5 decades. Now that he is gone from the company, the WWE programming is expected to go through some major changes.

Fightful Select provided some updates on what changes we can expect. They noted that one source within creative said that we may see fewer rematches moving forward.

It\’s believed that Vince McMahon will redo a match if he liked it and thought that it made sense. He then \’later forget that they\’d done it so many times.\’

There were people that claimed that the 76-year-old had issues remembering names of talents here and there. This might be a reason why he shortened many talent names.

People believe that the new leadership may not want to deviate from McMahon\’s vision too much out of \’respect\’ for the boss, but they still think that small improvements in current programming can make a huge difference.

As far as long-term changes go, most people said that it will be determined by who ends up in control of creative. If Bruce Prichard ends up taking over, it\’s likely that not much will change.

Though if it\’s someone else, the likelihood of \’forward progression\’ will be much higher. You can check out more backstage news on Vince McMahon\’s retirement here.

A lot of famous wrestling stars come from very humble beginnings, and Sami Zayn is no different.

The WWE star recently appeared on Stone Cold Steve Austin\’s Broken Skull Sessions. During the interview, he told the story of how he started in wrestling. Zayn recalled that he had a friend who worked at a wrestling radio station. One day he called him. The friend told Sami that a local wrestler named Patty The Kid was willing to train them and the high-flying star took the offer in a heartbeat:

\”It was 25 bucks a week so I can kind of afford that. So I go, and it\’s just me, him and one other guy from the radio station, also about the same age – 18. There\’s no school. Right? It\’s my friend\’s backyard, and a mattress that I guess they pulled from the garbage or something. We had that mattress for one week. And that was the end of that.

Then it was just the grass. His philosophy was, \’Well, if you can learn to bump on grass, you\’re gonna bump properly because there\’s no room for error.\’ Great philosophy if you don\’t have a ring.\”

\’Hey, I\’m A Wrestler\’: Sami Zayn

Sami Zayn continued his training for six months. After that he was told that he was ready to wrestle but he needed a booking to get started. The former Intercontinental champion also told the story of how he got his first booking:

\”So I trained for about six months and then it took two or three months to just kind of get my foot in the door. Get the opportunity to get booked. All I needed was one match, because then I could go around and start saying \’I\’m a wrestler. Can I work here?\’

So I had a match, and then I remember taking the bus in the metro to the east end and go into this church basement. I go, \’Hey, I\’m a wrestler. I\’d love to work for you.\’ The guy looks around, and there\’s like three people in the crowd. He\’s is like, \’Yeah, sure.\’ That\’s how I got booked\”

More Originals From SEScoops:

• The Undertaker Approves of WWE’s Return to TV-14
• Cody Rhodes Reveals Best Part Of His ESPY Win
• Claudio Castagnoli On Moment With Jake Hager During Blood And Guts
• Madcap Moss Recalls Disastrous WWE Tryout
• Kurt Angle Reveals Unknown Details About Jason Jordan’s Career-Ending Injury

If you use any quotes from the article, please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription

The wrestling world is still in shock over the news of Vince McMahon\’s retirement. However, latest reports suggest that it wasn\’t a last-minute decision.

The decision of Vince McMahon\’s retirement was said to be made \’about a week or so\’ ago. Not many people knew what was coming, and the site has been told that the shockwaves are still being registered within the WWE HQ and beyond.

Many long-term employees are especially in shock because similar to a lot of fans, they never truly believed that one day they would be working for the company without Vince McMahon at the helm.

The decision to make Stephanie McMahon the co-CEO alongside president Nick Khan was made shortly after it became clear that the boss will be leaving.

• Read Vince McMahon’s Memo to WWE Employees About his Retirement

The timing of the announcement was no coincidence. Releasing the news on late Friday was a strategic move to blunt any negative fallout in terms of media and stockholder response.

Vince McMahon was not present backstage at SmackDown. It\’s confirmed that he will not be officially involved in the creative process going forward, though there is no word on how the creative will work after McMahon\’s retirement.

Kevin Dunn and Bruce Prichard were said to be the people running Friday\’s SmackDown taping in Boston. Stephanie McMahon and Triple H were backstage as well but it wasn\’t clear if Nick Khan was there.

• Wrestling World Reacts to Vince McMahon’s Retirement

There are reports that WWE Raw will be ditching the PG rating in favor of the TV-14 rating. According to The Undertaker, it\’s a good move because it will allow talents to integrate more mature aspects into storylines instead of using a cuss word here and there to get a cheap pop.

The Dead Man was asked about this potential change during his most recent appearance at the San Diego Comic-Con. Taker said that it\’s a good move, mentioning how the Attitude Era produced some of the best TV content in the history of wrestling:

\”I think it\’s a good move. With their main demographic being 18-34 year old males. Done the way that WWE will do it, it will mean much more than just a random, \’Okay, we\’re gonna use a cuss word because it\’s gonna get a cheap pop.\’

WWE is smart and hopefully, when they do. Maybe it\’s a chance to touch that Attitude Era. right? because I mean, the Attitude Era was out of control but it was such great, great TV.\” said The Undertaker, \”And we\’re finally starting to get a talent roster now that knows how to use those kinds of tools.\”

The WWE legend also recalled the TV debut of Raw. He discussed how it changed the wrestling world forever by being a live show in the era of taped wrestling programs.

More Originals From SEScoops:

• Cody Rhodes Reveals Best Part Of His ESPY Win
• Claudio Castagnoli On Moment With Jake Hager During Blood And Guts
• Madcap Moss Recalls Disastrous WWE Tryout
• Kurt Angle Reveals Unknown Details About Jason Jordan’s Career-Ending Injury
• Liv Morgan On Negative Reactions To Her Title Win

If you use any quotes from the article, please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription

This article has been edited for clarity

Monday Night Raw revolutionized the wrestling business. Before the show came along, all wrestling programs used to be taped in advance with studio voiceovers. Raw changed this formula in favor of a live wrestling show every week with its debut back in January 1993. The Undertaker, who witnessed this change as part of the WWE roster, admits that it\’s the greatest things to happen in the modern era of wrestling.

The Dead Man made a surprise appearance at the San Diego Comics Con. During the Q&A session, he was asked if he knew that Raw would become the Television phenomena it turned out to be. The former world champion replied to it negatively, saying that they were just excited to be going live at the time:

\”No. We were actually just; we were excited that we were going to be live and all that but we had no idea that this was about to revolutionize the wrestling business. Because at that point, we would do three weeks of TV, three days in a row and then we would be out touring.\” recalled The Undertkaer, \”At that point all we worked [with] basically we worked with extras. That\’s how we did business.

He continued, \”Then Monday Night Raw comes along and we\’re gonna be live every Monday night. That really did just change the scope of the wrestling business. [Before you] would have Undertaker vs. somebody else in an enhancement match. Now you had top guys going against top guys every Monday night because you have to had ratings. If you were to keep a live show. You had to put the best out that you could. [It was] probably one of the greatest things to happen in the modern era of wrestling is going on live [with] Monday Night Raw.\”

More Originals From SEScoops:

• Cody Rhodes Reveals Best Part Of His ESPY Win
• Claudio Castagnoli On Moment With Jake Hager During Blood And Guts
• Madcap Moss Recalls Disastrous WWE Tryout
• Kurt Angle Reveals Unknown Details About Jason Jordan’s Career-Ending Injury
• Liv Morgan On Negative Reactions To Her Title Win

If you use any quotes from the article, please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription

This article has been edited for clarity.

A lot of things changed in WWE when Cody Rhodes was away rebuilding himself. According to the American Nightmare, the locker room was almost unrecognizable for him when he first came back.

The WWE star talked to James Williams on the ESPY red carpet. When asked about the changes in WWE he has noticed, Rhodes mentioned how the faces in the locker room have changed and how stars are treated differently:

\”I think it\’s changed so, so much. It\’s unrecognizable to me as far as the return until I see someone like a Kofi or Xavier Woods, someone that I knew really well. One of the things that it\’s changed, it\’s such a healthy company in terms of [caring for talents]. I am two months out of surgery here. They won\’t even give me a timeline because they\’re afraid I\’m gonna try and overtrain. Come back too soon.

The medical team, they\’ve just been so wonderful to me. But yeah, with that change it also kind of highlights for you, you\’re a grown up now. Even though I showed up at 20 years old in WWE, I\’m not anymore. It\’s time to be a grown up and having a daughter of my own makes it definitely is a different chapter in my career.\”

\’I Am Always There: Cody Rhodes

Cody Rhodes who was once a rookie in the WWE locker room, is now a seasoned veteran. During the talk, he mentioned how his executive role in AEW didn\’t suit him. However, now that people like The Undertaker and John Cena aren\’t in the locker room anymore, Cody claimed that he is always there for anyone who needs his help:

\”I\’m always there for somebody, whether he ever asked me to or not. The first day I was there. I wanted to make sure Dominic Mysterio had my number. I\’ve been there. It\’s a hard, hard, hard walk ahead of you but [I\’m] hoping he can absolutely make the best of it. So there are those young folks who didn\’t get to wrestle Undertaker [and] John Cena, people like that. I was able to be in the ring with them. So all I can do is pass on what they knew and I can only do that when asked.\”

You can check out Cody Rhodes\’ interview below:

More Originals From SEScoops:

• Cody Rhodes Reveals Best Part Of His ESPY Win
• Claudio Castagnoli On Moment With Jake Hager During Blood And Guts
• Madcap Moss Recalls Disastrous WWE Tryout
• Kurt Angle Reveals Unknown Details About Jason Jordan’s Career-Ending Injury
• Liv Morgan On Negative Reactions To Her Title Win

If you use any quotes from the article, please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription

Cody Rhodes won big at the ESPY Awards, bagging the trophy for the WWE Moment of the Year for his WrestleMania return. For the former AEW star, the best thing about his win was being nominated alongside people such as Stone Cold Steve Austin for his WrestleMania match and The Undertaker for his Hall of Fame speech among others.

The former TNT champion spoke to ComicBook.com at the San Diego Comic-Con. Speaking about his ESPY win, Cody explained why it means so much to him via a story. He recalled seeing posters of The Rock vs John Cena match, 2 years after it happened:

\”It\’s the best part of the ESPY. The best part of the ESPY was the fact that Steve was nominated, Undertaker was nominated and Cena was nominated and then I was nominated. That is by far the best part of the ESPY. Because in 2015, when I left in 2015.\” recalled Cody Rhodes, \”I remember even talking with WWE management about this. One of the crazy moments for me.

I was sitting outside the Scranton Wilkes-Barre hotel and the giant Mania bus that still was papered with Rock versus Cena. I remember just staring at it and wondering like how over are these guys and how long does this go. How do you get this? I remember just this defining [moment] \’I don\’t want to make excuses\’ So last night to be in the same category with John and to be able to [get] that landslide win was pretty exciting.\”

You can check out Cody Rhodes\’ interview below:

More Originals From SEScoops:

• Claudio Castagnoli On Moment With Jake Hager During Blood And Guts
• Madcap Moss Recalls Disastrous WWE Tryout
• Kurt Angle Reveals Unknown Details About Jason Jordan’s Career-Ending Injury
• Liv Morgan On Negative Reactions To Her Title Win
• Shawn Michaels Explains How Bret Hart Rivalry Turned Into Shoot

If you use any quotes from the article, please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription

Former WWE Universal champion Adam Scherr better known as Braun Strowman was apparently involved in a car accident on Thursday.

The former WWE star shared a photo of his truck and boat that were damaged in the accident on Twitter. He noted that everyone involved walked away without any serious injuries:

\”Always count your blessings.  Trucks and boats can be replaced.  Everyone walked away from this ok.   Thankful the lord was watching over us.\” wrote Strowman

The Monster Among Men was part of the WWE roster from 2013 to 2021. He started out as a member of the Wyatt Family and later became a successful singles star.

Braun Strowman won the Universal championship among other titles during his time with the company. He was surprisingly released during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since leaving the company, the former Wyatt Family member has joined the Control Your Narrative promotion founded by EC3.

He has wrestled only a handful of matches since his departure from WWE. Though several CYN events are scheduled for later this month in the North Carolina area.

It\’s a surprise that no other major promotion has signed the former world champion yet. Impact wrestling is the last known promotional to have talked to Braun but they couldn\’t reach an agreement.

The WWE Panel at the San Diego Comic-Con was full of exciting moments but probably the biggest one was a surprise appearance from none other than The Undertaker.

The Dead Man wasn\’t advertised for the show in advance. When his music hit, fans thought that it was to reveal his retro mid-90s action figure.

For the surprise of fans, however, Taker himself showed up in person. The wrestling legend received a huge standing ovation from the crowd upon his entrance:

Apart from the former world champion, the panel also featured a number of other WWE superstars, including Cody Rhodes, Zelina Vega, and Tommaso Ciampa.

Rhodes who has been out with a shoulder injury since the Hell In A Cell PPV provided an update on his health and recovery.

The American Nightmare said that he is unable to win an arm-wrestling contest at the moment, but he is healing slowly.

• Who Came up with The Undertaker’s WrestleMania Streak?

Cody reiterated that the doctors have not given him a timeline for his return. They fear that he will try to jump ahead of the expected timeframe.

WWE also announced several new action figures during the comic con. This included a WrestleMania 3 Andre The Giant figure and an early 90s Shawn Michaels figure, among others.

It\’s no secret that Sasha Banks and Bayley are good friends. The two female competitors were recently spotted together at a public event.

The wrestling stars were spotted chatting with each other at a concert in Orlando. The two later also took pictures with some other friends attending the show.

This is Sasha Banks\’ first public sighting with a WWE star since she walked out of the Vince McMahon-owned promotion and was subsequently released:

For those who don\’t know, both Banks and Naomi walked out of the May 16 Raw. They were reportedly frustrated with the creative directions for the Women\’s Tag Team Titles, among other things.

WWE buried the then champions on the red-branded show that night. The officials also stripped them of the titles which they reportedly handed over to John Laurinaitis on their way out.

• 5 Moments That Defined Sasha Banks’ WWE Career

While we haven\’t had official confirmation of the same, it has been reported multiple times since then that at least Sasha Banks has been released from her contract. A recent report also revealed The Boss\’ asking price for post-WWE appearances.

There has been no update on the future of Naomi. She is still under contract with the company but there is no word on if the female star has any plans of returning.

Kevin Owens finally returned on Monday Night Raw this week from Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida after not appearing on the show since the June 20 episode.

The former Universal champion was scheduled to compete in a Money In The Bank match against Ezekiel, Elias, or Elrod on the show.

However, the bout was cancelled by the officials and replaced with a last-chance battle royal without any explanation. Riddle won this battle royal and Owens had been absent from WWE programming ever since.

Kevin Owens Explains

The former NXT champion finally made his return during tonight\’s show. He held a new edition of KO show with Riddle as his guest.

During the segment Kevin Owens explained that he went on a nature retreat because he was going crazy due to his obsession with Ezekiel.

The Raw star claimed that the time away helped him gain perspective and he doesn\’t care about Ezekiel or Elias anymore. He mentioned that he still wants them to fail.

The real reason behind Owens\’ absence from WWE programming is still unknown. Some speculate that he was down with an illness but it doesn\’t appear to be the case since Kevin was seen at the NHL Draft earlier this month.

• WWE RAW Results (7/18/22): Logan Paul & The Miz, AJ Styles vs. Theory, Becky Lynch & Bianca Belair