Author: Anutosh Bajpai

The Bella Twins recently appeared on Busted Open Radio to promote their new book Incomparable and during their appearance; they revealed how it\’s like to deal with Vince McMahon in real life.

Brie was the first to speak. She said that the Boss is \”definitely intimidating.\” Agreeing to her comments, Nikki said that you do get scared when you go to meet Vince in his office.

Though Brie continued by saying that Mr McMahon does appreciate when you come up with ideas and she then claimed that their conversation with him were always gentle:

\”Every time we sat down with Vince it was always a gentle conversation. I mean, he definitely yelled at us a couple of times in \’Gorilla [Position]\’ and that was scary,

But to actually sit down and we always walked out of there either understanding our story or the bigger picture or just changing something in a way that we all were kind of like, \’Oh, you\’re right. Maybe it should go this way.\’\”

• Also Read: Nikki Bella Calls Ronda Rousey’s WWE Debut a “Slap In The Face” To Women\’s Roster

Nikki then jumped in to say that Vince McMahon is straight up with talent and you would know exactly which direction your character will be going to after talking to him:

\”When you would talk to him, it\’s kind of like, you couldn\’t be disappointed on what was going to happen or what direction you\’re going in, because you knew it,\”

The Bellas also talked about how many talents do not build a relationship with Vince McMahon and always look at him as the \’scary Vince\’. You can check out the duo\’s comments in the clip below:

Karrion Kross, accompanied by Scarlett, made his long awaited NXT debut on Wednesday night. Dubbed as the \’Tandem of Terror\’, the former Impact Wrestling star made an impressive entrance. The high production values suggest WWE is looking to invest big on their latest high-profile talent acquisition.

Kross went up against Leon Ruff who is an enhancement talent from WWE\’s partners Evolve in a one on one match and he picked up an easy victory over his opponent.

The debuting star first hit two brutal looking Doomsday Saito suplexes to weaken his opponent and he then used the Jacket submission to make him tap.

You can check out footage of Karrion Kross\’ debut below:

There is no word yet on what the company is planning for Karrion Kross but the previous reports have suggested that they have planned a big push for the monstrous athlete.

He has been seen in the background of a Johnny Gargano segment and Kross also attacked Tommaso Ciampa recently. So it\’s likely that his first rivalry in the company will be against one of these two former tag team partners.

• Also Read: Nikki Bella Calls Ronda Rousey’s WWE Debut a “Slap In The Face” To Women\’s Roster

WWE has announced that Money In The Bank match will be taking place from the WWE Headquarters this year and reports have since revealed that the company has already taped the bouts.

However, this doesn\’t mean that all of the PPV will be pre-taped and according to reports from PWInsider, there will be several matches on the show that will air live.

According to the site, both the Money In The Bank matches will be pre-taped this year but the rest of the matches on the card will be live and they will air from Performance Center as they happen.

Though this is not the only interesting thing about the format of the show and WWE has previously announced that both the Money In The Bank matches this year will be taking place at the same time.

• Also Read: Nikki Bella Says Ronda Rousey\’s Debut Was \’A Slap In The Face\’ Of Women Wrestlers

This means that all the participants will be competing simultaneously and we can expect to see some interaction between the male and female competitors.

The male Money In The Bank match will see Aleister Black, Rey Mysterio, Daniel Bryan, King Corbin, Otis and AJ Styles competing for the chance to win the briefcase.

On the other hand, the female ladder match is expected to feature Nia Jax, Asuka, Shayna Baszler, Dana Brooke, Lacey Evans and Carmella competing for the opportunity. You can check out an updated match card for the event at this link.

Aleister Black says it has been \”mind-blowing\” to work with Paul Heyman, the Executive Director of WWE Raw.

It\’s no secret that Heyman has certain wrestlers whom he has taken under his wing. Black, Buddy Murphy and Cedric Alexander are among the current crop of \’Paul Heyman Guys.\’

Aleister Black was a guest on WWE Backstage this week. The former NXT Champion appeared \’out of character\’ and spoke about his relationship with Zelina Vega and more.

During the discussion, Christian asked Black how he feels about working with the big names on the Raw brand.

Aleister Black on Working with Paul Heyman

Black said, \”It\’s so strange that people like yourself, people like Paul Heyman and people like Edge and many many more are now amongst people that I can call on to give me advice or to help me further my game within the WWE.\”

\”It\’s a very unique situation for me because never in a million year that I think that some kid from Amsterdam would be in the position that not only he would be in Money In The Bank,\” he continued. \”But he would be a fan favorite, but he would be informed and led by Paul Heyman. It\’s mind-blowing.\”

You can see video of Aleister Black talking about his experience working with Paul Heyman in the video player embedded below.

Continuing on the topic, Black said that he has accepted this part of himself and it\’s necessary to have such people in his close circle to elevate his career further.

Aleister Black is currently scheduled to compete in the mens\’ Money In The Bank ladder match this Sunday on pay-per-view.

• Also Read: Nikki Bella Says Ronda Rousey\’s WWE Debut Was A Slap In The Face Of Other Women Wrestlers

Zack Ryder\’s Intercontinental Championship win at WrestleMania 32 was one of the highlights of his WWE career and the former champion himself admits that it was one of the top moments of his wrestling career.

However, the former WWE star was not originally expected to be part of the bout at all and he was put in the match due to the injury of the former Cruiserweight Champion Neville, now better known as Pac.

During his recent appearance on Busted Open Radio, Ryder talked about the match and said that it was the top moment of his career in the company. He then recalled the ups and downs going into the bout and revealed how he got the spot:

\”Someone got injured. It was Neville, Pac, that got injured, and I went right up to Road Dogg, who was head of creative. I don\’t remember exactly what I said. I think it was an out-of-body experience. I just rattled off why I think I deserve to be in that match. I think he could just feel that passion just coming out of my body.

I guess one of the things I said was, \’I never heard my music play at Mania,\’\” said Zack Ryder \”and later he said that was the comment that stuck with him and got him to vouch for me to get me in there.\”

• Also Read: Nikki Bella Says Ronda Rousey\’s Debut Was A Slap In The Face For Other Wrestlers

Zack continued by saying that just coming down the aisle and hearing his music for the first time at WrestleMania after so many years in WWE was a win for him alone and then winning the title was another incredible moment.

His father, who was sitting in the audience slid in the ring after this win and during the interview, the former WWE star revealed that this was not part of the plan and Dolph Ziggler waved his father over to get into the ring after the match.

Drew McIntyre has been wrestling for almost two decades and he spent a good amount of time in the independent circuit at the start of his career and after getting his release from WWE in 2014 as well.

However, despite this, he has never faced AJ Styles in a one on one match and during his recent interview with Vicente Beltrán of ViBe & Wrestling, the WWE Champion talked about possibly defending his title against the Phenomenal One.

McIntyre was asked who he would like to face for the title. Answering the question, he said that he would like other possible challengers like Jinder Mahal to build themselves first and then talked about possibly facing the former World Champion:

\”Somebody that\’s not there right now, hopefully he can dig himself out from the ground, but AJ Styles is somebody that\’s certainly up there. He\’s a performer that, you know, he\’s one of the greatest in-ring performers of all time.

When I first started training when I was 15 and he was, like, on top of the independent world, I used to study his tapes like crazy.\” recalled Drew. \”I was like, \’Man, I\’m going to be like AJ Styles,\’ and then I kept getting taller and kept getting bigger and I was like, \’Okay, I\’m not going to be like AJ Styles, but he\’s really cool to watch.\’\”

• Also Read: NXT Star In Line For A Long Term Push

The interview was recorded before this week\’s episode of Raw which saw AJ Styles making his return to WWE programming and winning the last chance gauntlet match.

Styles now has the opportunity to win the Money In The Bank this Sunday. Winning the briefcase would guarantee him a world title opportunity, hopefully against the current WWE Champion Drew McIntyre.

NXT star Brendan Vink has been making appearances on Raw in recent weeks and it appears that his presence on the show is part of a longer plan for the Australian wrestler.

WWE officials have considered him to be a project in development for sometimes now and the NXT star is in line for a push, according to Pwinsider.

WWE\’s partner promotion Evolve was building Vink up and his push in the indie promotion would have continued if it wasn\’t for the coronavirus outbreak.

His recent main roster appearances are apparently the beginning of trying to make him into a real star and they are building towards a long term push.

• Also Read: ACH Reflects On WWE T-Shirt Controversy: ‘I’m Ashamed Of Myself’

The plans for Brendan Vink\’s push were described as being similar to the push given to the current Universal Champion Braun Strowman as part of the Wyatt Family when Mr McMahon saw the Monster Among Men as a long term project.

The NXT star has been teaming with Shane Thorne on WWE television recently and the two have made a number of appearances on Raw in recent weeks.

This week\’s episode of Raw was the first time these two picked up a victory on the show when they teamed up to defeat the team of Cedric Alexander and Ricochet.

Aiden English had found success in his early days in NXT as part of The Vaudevillains tag team but he didn\’t achieve much after being called up to the main roster.

The former WWE star recently had an interview with Inside The Ropes where he talked about his WWE career and many other things in detail.

During the interview, Aiden English also explained the difference between dealing with Triple H while in NXT and dealing with Vince McMahon in the main roster giving the impression that Mr. McMahon was harder to reach:

\”Hunter was great because when NXT was starting, Hunter was out there on the floor, and he still is to this day and he\’s helping put the show together, especially the TakeOvers and all that stuff, He\’s hands on. I mean, Vince, between all the business stuff, network stuff, international stuff.

He\’s dealing with that on our TV days, as well as trying to get these shows written.\” said English. \”So it is hard, and there\’s a lot of the stories of waiting outside the office door and hoping knock and catch him at the right time, \’cause the man\’s got to eat too. You don\’t want to be the person knocking when he\’s about to have dinner.\”

• Also Read: Recently Released Star Teasing Retirement From Pro Wrestling

The former NXT star went on to say that he didn\’t develop his relationship with Vince during his initial run in the main roster but he started speaking for himself after becoming a singles competitor.

During the interview, Aiden English also talked about his pairing with Rusev and revealed that they used to ignore the promos given to them by WWE creative. You can check out his comments on the matter at this link.

Jinder Mahal made his in-ring return after almost a year of absence earlier last month but the former Champion had to do it in an empty arena due to the current situations.

WWE posted a behind the scene video of his return recently where the former WWE Champion talked about his time away and revealed that he actually reached out to WWE officials after getting cleared to set up his return.

The video also featured the post-match comments after his comeback. Discussing the bout, Jinder admitted that he was a bit nervous coming in but claimed that it felt good:

\”Coming in I was kind of a little bit nervous, over how I would perform with no fans, just because a lot of what I do is based off reactions and instincts, and feelings. You know, kind of their reactions does dictate a lot of what I do in the ring, so it felt good. I really did miss it while I was gone.\”

• Also Read: Recently Released WWE Star Teasing Retirement From Wrestling

WWE announced back in June 2019 that Jinder Mahal has suffered a knee injury and the required surgery will keep him out of action for somewhere between six to twelve months.

He was part of the SmackDown brand at the moment but the Modern Day Maharaja was sent back to Raw during the 2019 draft when the Blue Branded Show moved to Fox.

Mahal finally made his return to WWE programming during the April 27 episode of Monday Night Raw where he defeated Akira Tozawa in a one on one match.

Lio Rush was one of the stars released by WWE as part of their coronavirus budget cuts and he is now teasing a retirement from the wrestling business altogether.

The former Cruiserweight Champion took his twitter today and made an interesting comment saying \”I legitimately might not ever wrestle again\”:

While Rush did not elaborate on his future plans, he has been making tweets promoting his hip hop career, and shortly before the above post he had sent out another tweet, saying that he is available for music features.

The former WWE star posted an email where he can be booked and he had also recently confirmed that his debut album called Ever After will be releasing on Monday, May 11.

Lio Rush started his wrestling career in 2014. Before being picked up by WWE in August 2017, the high flying star wrestled for companies such as CZW and ROH.

• Also Read: NXT Star Reveals She Was Originally Expected To Compete At Royal Rumble

He was moved to the main roster in June 2018. He first competed in 205 Live and was later paired with Bobby Lashley as the former Champion\’s mouthpiece.

While this pairing gained popularity with fans, the former NXT star got himself in a controversy after making public comments about his WWE pay.

After his comments became a hot topic of discussion, stories about Lio Rush\’s backstage attitude became viral and he was finally released from the company last month.

The Royal Rumble match earlier this year saw a number of NXT stars making their presence felt and the stars that got a moment to shine include people like Bianca Belair, Shayna Baszler and Keith Lee.

However, during a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, NXT star Io Shirai revealed that she was actually scheduled to compete in the Battle Royal earlier this year.

Shirai revealed that she was pulled from the match because she suffered an injury while competing in a match with Toni Storm before the PPV in January:

\”I had a match with Toni Storm before Royal Rumble, when Storm hit a tope to me at outside of the ring, my knee had bent to the wrong direction. I was scheduled to participate (in the) Royal Rumble, but I was so frustrated that I (couldn\’t) participate.\”

• Also Read: Drew McIntyre Reveals His Reaction To Learning That WrestleMania Will Have No Fans

Io Shirai returned from the injury in March and in April, she became the number one contender for Charlotte Flair\’s NXT Women\’s Championship after winning a ladder match.

The NXT star defeated Candice LeRae, Tegan Nox, Mia Yim, Dakota Kai, and Chelsea Green to earn the opportunity and she will be challenging the Queen for her title at this week\’s episode of the Black and Yellow brand

Mandy Rose had been involved in a storyline with Otis in the last few months and their angle concluded with the two finally getting together at WrestleMania 36 where Rose helped the former NXT star in winning his match against Dolph Ziggler.

The duo then shared another moment backstage when they were interviewed after the show and during a recent interview, the Golden Goddess revealed that the segment was actually unscripted.

Mandy recently spoke to Sports Illustrated where she talked about a number of things and revealed that her post WrestleMania segment with Otis was completely unscripted:

“That was just us, off-script, being ourselves. I was shocked it got so many views. We’re really thankful that people are enjoying this. This was something we thought was really funny, and we both thought it could be a great story.

Though I never thought it would resonate with people this much. But it’s relatable, and it’s really cool that we’ve been able to involve so many people.”

The segment in question has garnered a lot of attention from fans and as of this writing it has more than 3.5 million views on WWE\’s official YouTube channel.

Apart from this, Mandy Rose also talked about the start of this storyline and revealed who pitched the idea for it. You can check out her comments about the same here.

• Also Read: Current Champion Pulled Out Of WWE Tapings Due To Coronavirus Concerns

Nia Jax stands out in the WWE roster due to her size difference and the former Women\’s Champion has been doing so from the first day of her WWE career.

The Irresistible Force recently appeared on WWE\’s The Bump where she talked about things like her recent injury, her time away from the company and more.

Talking about her start in the promotion, Jax recalled how she stood out even in her tryouts and revealed what Joey Mercury told her after her first match:

\”I will never forget my tryout, there was an obvious difference between me and the other girls. They were fitness models and bodybuilders. I walked in with no makeup, hair up in a ponytail, ready to sweat, and these girls had their hair and makeup done.

\”I never thought in a million years that I would ever get this job.\” said Nia Jax \”I remember after my first match one of the coaches, Joey Mercury, came up to me and said, \”Just so you know, you\’re my first-round pick. I said, \’What,\’ and he said, \’Your body, your size, you\’re unique and you will be incredible.\’ It was so cool.\”

• Also Read: Current Champion Pulled Out Of WWE Taping Due To Coronavirus Concerns

The former NXT star underwent surgery for a knee injury in April last year and she had been out of action ever since. She returned during the WrestleMania 36 follow up episode of Raw where she defeated Deonna Purrazzo in a squash match.

Apart from this, Nia Jax also talked about Simone Johnson joining WWE, what the Rock told her during her time away and more. You can check out her interview in the video below:

The cinematic matches at WrestleMania this year received high praise and fans are open to seeing more such content. Now it appears that Becky Lynch is open to the concept as well, including the possibility of creating her own version of the boneyard match.

The Raw Women\’s Champion recently had an interview with TVInsider to promote her cameo in Billions where she talked about things like the upcoming Money In The Bank PPV, how she landed the role and more.

Talking about the cinematic matches and the possibility of WWE producing more such content in future, Lynch said that they can keep going along the lines:

\”The thing is, it’s a crazy time. You have to see what works and what doesn’t. The fact that we have the ability to make more cinematic matches, I think it’s a testament to how we can adjust and move forward.

I think we have to keep going along those lines.\” said Becky Lynch. \”Not necessarily every match has to be a cinematic match, but just [exploring] different ways of dialogue and how we adjust our storytelling to this new reality we’re in now.\”

• Also Read: Sami Zayn Pulled Out Of Recent WWE Taping

When asked if she can picture herself outside of a traditional match Lynch revealed that she has pitched some ideas for it \”I’ve pitched plenty of things. We’ll see what happens. Sometimes your pitches go through, sometimes they don’t. We’ll see what happens. \”

Apart from this, Becky Lynch talked about things like adjusting to the quarantine lifestyle, new faces getting a chance in WWE and more. You can check out her interview at this link.

The Money In The Bank will be taking place from the WWE headquarters and latest update reveal that the ladder matches this year will be unique in more than one way.

WWE announced on this week\’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown that both male and female Money In The Bank matches this year will be taking place at the same time:

The company previously revealed that the ladder matches will start from the ground floor of the WWE Headquarters and the competitors will have to \’climb the corporate ladder\’ and reach the top floor to win the bout.

Now this new announcement means that the male and female participants will be competing simultaneously and we might even see some interaction between them.

• Also Read: Sami Zayn Reportedly Pulled Out Of Recent WWE Tapings

The Money In The Bank PPV was originally scheduled to take place from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, MD but it was moved due to the coronavirus restrictions.

The event will now air live from the WWE Headquarters on May 10, with some of the content such as the ladder matches announced for the show airing with tape delay.

A total of five matches have been confirmed for the show so far and you can check out an updated match card for the upcoming event at this link.

It\’s safe to say that at the age of 42, Jeff Hardy has more of his wrestling career behind him than in front. It appears that the former World Champion also understands this as he is already talking about a potential retirement match for himself.

The Charismatic Enigma recently appeared on the After The Bell podcast of Corey Graves where he talked about his long and illustrated career in the wrestling business in detail.

During the interview, Hardy also expressed the desire to face Brock Lesnar once again and said that maybe he can compete with the Beast in his last match:

“That’s one more thing, I would love to get my a** kicked by him [Brock Lesnar] again because he’s just intimidating and insanely gifted. To be as successful as he was in the MMA world, he’s amazing. That would be interesting, man. Maybe that could be my last match. I was his first match; he could be my last match.”

• Also Read: Zack Ryder Teasing Return Of Old WWE Concept

Jeff also talked about the recent SmackDown promos promoting his return. He talked about his rehab and problems with alcoholism and drug abuse and said that he is doing everything he can to make the situation better.

Brock Lesnar\’s debut match in WWE main roster was against Jeff Hardy. Lesnar faced the Attitude Era star in a singles bout at Backlash 2002 and the Beast defeated the wrestling veteran via a TKO in five minutes.

The Hardy Boyz then went on to pick up victories over the former WWE Champion in the following weeks but Jeff has never faced Brock in a singles match since then.

Sami Zayn has not been seen on WWE programming in recent times and new reports suggest that it\’s his own decision which has prevented him from making an appearance.

According to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the current Intercontinental Champion was originally expected to be part of last week\’s episode of SmackDown.

However, he was written off the show after Zayn made the decision to not travel to WWE Performance Center in Orlando over coronavirus concerns.

• Also Read: Renee Young Has Heat For Recent WWE Backstage Incident

Both AEW and WWE have previously told their employees that they are free to not work the shows amid the pandemic and their decision will not be held against them in the future.

Sami Zayn is the second big-name which seems to have taken advantage of this advisory after Roman Reigns pulled out of his WrestleMania 36 match with Goldberg.

The former NXT star has not been seen on WWE programming since WrestleMania 36 where he successfully defended his title against Daniel Bryan in a one on one match.

• Also Read: Kofi Kingston Reveals Who Put Together His Royal Rumble Moment With Brock Lesnar

Zayn\’s partners Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura have been appearing on shows in recent weeks and they both have been working their own storylines without the current champion.

It\’s worth mentioning here that the former NXT Champion noted on twitter that he had his wisdom teeth taken out recently which may be the reason why he wasn\’t written into storylines prior to this week\’s SmackDown from which he pulled out.

There is no news on when Sami Zayn might return to Television but it\’s believed that Roman Reigns will not make his comeback until the pandemic is contained in some way and the same could be true for Zayn as well.